


Reversed

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: 50k+ words, Bart Allen - Freeform, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes - Freeform, Bluepulse, Completed but not all posted yet, Jaime Reyes - Freeform, M/M, Speedbuggy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:14:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 41,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22063105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: In a Dystopian future where Jaime is the prized possession of the Reach, his life is forever changed on one fateful day. Somewhere along the way, perhaps most importantly, Jaime meets Bart Allen. The speedster takes an instant liking to the stone cold, serious, soldier from the future. Will Bart be able to befriend the newcomer? What secrets will he discover about his future? Will they both survive the dangers coming their way? Only time will tell.PS: It is completed, but I'm posting it over time. Leave comments please!
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West, Bart Allen/Jaime Reyes, Don Allen/Meloni Thawne
Comments: 20
Kudos: 44





	1. Liberation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PaintingWithDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintingWithDarkness/gifts).



> Hi all! Happy 2020! I believe this is the first Bluepulse fic of 2020! I poured my heart and soul into this fic! I have finished it, and it is very long (over 50K words). I am however rewording the last few sections and have therefore opted to only post the first third of the fic. Hope you enjoy Chapters 1 - 10!
> 
> PLEASE COMMENT! I REALLY APPRECIATE FEEDBACK! IF YOU LIKED A CHAPTER, DON'T BE AFRAID TO LET ME KNOW! IF YOU LIKE A PARTICULAR PARAGRAPH, COPY AND PASTE IT AND TELL ME WHY YOU LIKE IT! I LOVE FEEDBACK! BUT MOST OF ALL, TELL ME IF YOU ARE EXCITED FOR MORE!

Silence fell across the room as a tribute of respect as he stood. The Reach Ambassador basked in the sense of authority as the occupants of the room bowed. However this level of loyalty did not appease his anger. He could smell the fear of the messenger who kneeled before him. The messenger stood in his scarlet beetle-tech armor and opened his mouth before hesitating.

“Speak!” The Ambassador bellowed his impatience growing thin.

“I bring unfortunate news Ambassador, the host of Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes, is now in control of his scarab.”

The Ambassador gritted his teeth as he resisted the urge to backhand the man. He pressed for an explanation.

“The Flash managed to help free him from our control. We are,” the man paused nervously before continuing, “unclear… of how he was able to override our programming.”

“I told you we should not have sent the Blue Beetle out into the field! He was our most valuable asset!” The scientist standing a foot behind the leader berated.

“Say one... more... word.” The Ambassador threatened, eyes doused with murderous intent.

The breath hitched in both the scientist and messenger upon hearing his chilling tone.

“Guards, kill him.” The leader ordered.

“Ambassador, do you mean the messenger or Jaime Reyes?” The first of two guards who stepped forward asked; whilst the other guard seized the messenger who looked at the Ambassador eyes wide with alarm.

The Ambassador grinned evilly, “Why not both?” He said playfully.

The guards nodded and began dragging the messenger out as he frantically begged for his life.

“That could have just as easily been you my dear.” He directed at the Scientist. “You are however of great use to me, so I will spare you your life this time. However, watch your manners when addressing me.”

“Gratitude.” The scientist bowed at just the right moment to hide the thick swallow in her throat.

“Now, get back to work. I want a solution that will allow us to control the Blue Beetle’s scarab once again. He cannot get away! He is vital to my plan!” The Reach leader stated, each sentence growing in volume.

“Yes Ambassador!” The woman said immediately before ducking her head and quickly striding out of the room.

X

“Are you alright?” The soft, soothing tone asked (that was genetic in the Allen's). Jaime looked back into caring, concerned eyes.

“Dios mio. I don’t believe it.” Jaime said breathlessly as he rotated his shaky hands outstretched in front of him as if he was experiencing movement for the first time ever. It was actually the first time he had moved his hands of his own free will in years.

“Gracias!” Jaime thanked over and over again slouched on his knees, tears framing the bases of both of his eyes. He wasn’t even aware he still had the ability to cry. After having been on mode for what felt like an eternity, he thought he had lost the capacity to feel or display emotions. He never smiled anymore, his face was permanently stuck in a lifeless frown.

“Look I’m so sorry... I know what you’ve been through has been pretty awful, but I need you to come with me.” The speedster asked politely, behind a well hidden veil of fear in his eyes.

Jaime only nodded in response. He was not about to decline any request from the man that had just freed him of Reach control and given him his life back. Besides, Jaime knew that other Reach soldiers would be on their way any minute now as they would have been alerted to his liberation.

Jaime had been patrolling the perimeter of Reach Headquarters when the Flash had ambushed him. Only people with a death wish came near the building. It was patrolled by merciless Reach soldiers twenty-four hours a day. Khaji Da’s programming was about to force Jaime to kill his savior, but to Jaime’s incomprehensible relief, the Flash had thrown a strange, neon, aqua colored marble at his armor. It had hit his right shoulder and the armor had immediately absorbed it; and Jaime watched bewildered as it liquified and rapidly expanded over the surfaces of his armor in lines reminiscent of cables on a motherboard, until it engulfed him in a sudden flash of blinding, white light. And here they were. Jaime’s armor retracted and he could feel it, his limbs were moving and at the command of his brain, not the scarab’s programming.

The Reach would occasionally retract the armor of soldiers so that the host could get some vitamin D from sun exposure as well as some exercise. However, this was only done routinely every couple of months and there were always a slew of Reach soldiers who observed every move you made. If you so much as lifted a finger without their permission, you were executed. So those brief moments out of his armor didn’t count, it didn’t feel like free will, especially when he could feel the scarab on his back was still in control and was one command away from engulfing him in the armor again so soon after his temporary freedom from the armor prison had been granted. Jaime felt a fragment of his soul die each time the armor encapsulated him again. It was a sickening routine.

“I think it will be faster if I carry you, is that okay?” Jade eyes frantically begged for confirmation.

“Si.” Jaime offered, breaking away from his dark memories in captivity. He would do anything, absolutely anything, to repay this man for his kindness.

In a sudden scoop Jaime’s brain couldn’t even process, the speedster had picked Jaime up bridal style and ran with him at super speed for what felt like about a millisecond, before skidding to a screeching halt.

Jaime’s eyes were brutally assaulted by the pure darkness he suddenly found himself surrounded by. The harsh adjustment from having gone to pure daylight to pure darkness in a millisecond was painful. Jaime grunted with discomfort and rubbed his eyes with his knuckles.

The speedster let out a singular, guilty chuckle, “Sorry, forgot to warn you about the light difference.”

Jaime had blinked tens of times and still couldn’t grab a bearing on where he was. He held a hand out in front of his face and tried desperately to see the outline of it. He was quick to give up, it was just too dark.

“Where am I?” Jaime asked with both a mixture of caution and curiosity.

“You’re in the Batcave.” A deeper, more serious tone cut through the darkness. Jaime craned his neck searching pointlessly in the darkness for the source of the voice.

“Mind turning on some lights there Timmy boy?” The speedster leered with a grin.

“Don’t call me that.” The man’s tone came through more harshly than the white, fluorescent lights that snapped to life to reveal the Batcave. 

Jaime grunted even louder this time. Once his eyes had adjusted, he admired the hollowed out cave around them. The contrast between where Tim’s man-made structures adjoined the cave’s jagged, umber-colored, rocky interior were as clear as the refreshing air Jaime was now breathing; unlike that of the air near the Reach’s headquarters which reeked of despair. Jaime instantly recognized all of the numerous bat-devices meticulously placed around the cave. His eyes then settled upon a strange looking and large contraption in the middle of the room. 

It was what he could only describe as a circular doorway built on some kind of platform. The entire machine was built out of an assortment of metals. Whilst he wasn’t unaccustomed to seeing machinery he didn’t know the purpose of, this machine baffled him. Even as a Reach soldier, he would patrol the building and sometimes stumble across projects or experiments utilizing equipment he had never seen before in the engineering labs. Usually machinery being put to horrific and inhumane use. But this contraption in the Batcave was nothing like he’d ever seen before.

“What is this?” Jaime asked having been already placed on his own two feet again by his savior, as he walked out to touch the device.

“Don’t touch it.” The current Batman ordered, his bare face somehow managing to remain just as frightening even without the cowl Jaime was accustomed to seeing.

“Oh loosen up Tim-” The speedster began lightheartedly as he pulled the head portion of his spandex uniform off over his head.

“There isn’t much time! Jaime, I am sending you back into the past. All you need to do is walk through that portal.” Tim said as he strode across the room to a panel of switches. Jaime was momentarily mesmerized by the gold laced cape that swished around behind him.

“Wait what?” Jaime ogled, “You’re sending me to the past?”. His eyes bulged with shock.

Tim flicked a switch on a control panel beside him and the device sprung to life, immediately filling the circular doorway with a blurry image of what appeared to be a building of some kind.

Jaime gasped as he witnessed it all. He felt like he shouldn’t have been so surprised by a time machine, after all, he did have an alien scarab fused to his spine capable of forming almost any weapon or device imaginable using nano-technology.

“What! I can’t just leave?” Jaime argued out of instinct, sadness washing over his face.

“You have to! The Ambassador plans to use you to destroy the entire universe. Your scarab is the most powerful one the Reach has ever made Jaime. They don’t know how, but on your host body, the scarab is destined to outgrow the abilities of any other AI in the world. No other scarab is capable of learning and developing like Khaji Da is. They are planning to exploit it fully when more of its abilities have been unlocked. And we are not giving them the chance!” Tim ordered with a finality to his voice.

Jaime looked at the only other person in the room, the speedster who had just saved him, who looked back at him apologetically, “Sorry Jaime but you have to do this.”

Jaime was well aware that the Batman of their time was a genius. If he was saying that, then it had to be true. Jaime took a sad sigh, and stepped up on to the silver platform. He looked at the blurry window rippling in front of him. He knew he had to do this. And besides, there wasn’t much worth staying for in his timeline anyway. Jaime raised a finger unsurely at Tim and was about to ask about what year he was being sent to, as well as a few other well informed questions, when they all heard a loud explosion nearby. The cave shook momentarily, wobbling all the stalactites on the ceiling. The three could suddenly hear the angry echoes of Reach soldiers yelling in the distance. Both men rushed to put their masks back on.

“Hurry!” Tim shouted angrily, taking a threatening step towards Jaime, prompting him to run through the portal before Tim forcefully pushed him through it. And just like that, Jaime ran forwards and disappeared into the portal.

X


	2. Meeting The Members

Jaime nearly tripped as he reanimated on the other side of the portal; arms outstretched to try and balance his landing. He lowered them once he had his footing and looked around. His jaw dropped slowly as he took in the surroundings. The past looked… very different. To his East, South and West, were roads flowing with busy traffic. And behind those roads were an assortment of small to large skyscrapers as far as the eye could see. But directly in front of him, was a large cloud-colored building labelled ‘Hall of Justice’.

Jaime’s eyes traced the building from one edge of the semi-circle arch protruding out of the concrete to the other. Standing, or more rather sitting between him and the building, was a giant man-made pool of water with a spiky, abstract water feature placed directly in the middle. It was pure chaos to his sides and behind him, but in front of him, it was pure peace.

He felt a light breeze brush his forearms and face. He rejoiced in the small reminder he was free of being trapped in his armor before deciding he should go into the building to seek help. The building seemed to have a safe atmosphere about it and Jaime felt more confident in his decision with every step he took closer to it. He was almost in disbelief over it all. Was he truly in the past right now? Was he truly in control of his body again? Was this all a dream? He stopped as he reached the two large glass doors which automatically slid open for him. Without moving, he peered inside from where he stood, and it looked relatively safe.

Once a few timid steps inside the building, Jaime gasped, “Woah.” His pupils expanded to try and take in the sheer size of the massive, stone statues of the founding members of the Justice League. He knew he was safe now. He had known most of these superheroes from their descendants that carried on in their legacies in his future.

He allowed himself to imagine meeting the original team members of the Justice League. He reflected on the thought as an absolute honor. Jaime looked around aimlessly. He couldn’t actually see any members of the Justice League. Just civilians who eagerly snapped pictures on their mobile phones of the exhibits on show.

Jaime spotted a woman behind the reception desk. The moment she saw him, she picked up the landline phone on the desk in front of her. Jaime had an eerie feeling she was talking about him. It was amazing how quickly that safe feeling that had pooled in his gut vanished. He took a few steps to the side before turning and running. He saw her stand up and yell something out to him in his peripheral vision, but he couldn’t hear her over the thunderous pounding of his heart.

He didn’t stop running until he found himself in front of a pair of thick, metal doors. The bright red and yellow ‘Justice Leaguers Only’ sign had caught his eye. He needed to get in there and find someone he could trust, maybe Batman? Or the Flash? Somebody. He placed his hands on the doors and frantically began bashing. Bashing quickly turned into kicking, but the doors were not going to budge. Jaime knew it was a fruitless expedition to try to get through them. Or was it?

“Khaji Da?” Jaime cautiously called out waiting for a response. In his haste to escape the future, he hadn’t even checked to see if his scarab was still functioning after that weird marble had freed him of being on mode. Not to mention the possible side effects that time traveling could have had on the scarab.

“Yes Jaime Reyes?” The monotone voice answered in his mind.

His chest heaved forward with a huge sigh of relief. He almost felt like he had learned to breathe again after having held his breath whilst waiting to hear that familiar voice in his mind.

“Do you still... work?” Jaime asked optimistically, which was quite the contrast of how he had felt whilst on mode. He had spent every second of every hour wishing that the scarab would malfunction giving him even the slightest chance of escaping the hell that was being a Reach soldier.

“Affirmative.” The succinctly answering scarab responded.

“Can you please get me in there?” Jaime pointed at the doors. He knew he didn’t have to point, Khaji Da knew exactly what he meant. But after so many years of being one, it filled Jaime with a sense of overwhelming relief to act like he was a separate person again, purely just to remind himself he was no longer on mode; something he was still having trouble believing.

After a moment of hesitation, as if the suit was trying to become accustomed to the new direction of control, it encased his body. Jaime’s breathing increased immediately in the fear it might not ever retract again. He was about to ask Khaji Da to release him when he saw a security guard at the very end of the hall point at him as he talked into his walkie talkie. Thankfully Khaji Da quickly got to work and Jaime’s fears began to subside as he watched the armor conform to his command. Khaji Da directed Jaime to the panel beside the door, Jaime placed his hand on it and the scarab hacked it almost instantly.

“Gracias!” Jaime remarked as his eyes rolled upwards with relief.

No response came from the scarab. Jaime ran through the doors and watched as they closed behind him. He took a few more steps walking backwards when his back suddenly collided with something. He span around turning his arm into a plasma cannon with such efficiency that even the man he had bumped into was surprised.

“Woah! Woah! Woah! Calm down Jaime!” The man ushered, hands defensively up in the air.

“How do you know my name?” Jaime questioned suspiciously with a frown etched on his face.

“We’ve been expecting you!” The man said cheerily. Jaime was baffled by the enthusiasm in the man’s voice. He should have been terrified. After all, Jaime was holding a plasma cannon to his chest.

“Who’s we? And wait… who are you?” Jaime said lowering his cannon slowly.

“Michael Carter!” The man beamed extending his hand for a handshake. Jaime went to lift his hand to meet the gold glove when it suddenly retracted as if trying to save itself from being bitten by a shark.

“You might want to turn your cannon back into a hand first!” He joked with a wide smile.

“Right. Lo siento.” Jaime shook his head. His brain was processing a lot of new information right now. After all he had been in the past for only a few handfuls of minutes now. 

His plasma cannon morphed back into a hand, however Michael teetered as he waited for something. Oh. Jaime retracted the armor all the way revealing himself fully. It was now that Michael seemed satisfied enough to re-offer his hand to which Jaime weakly shook it.

“So Jaime. Can I ask you something?” Michael raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Jaime dragged out, nervous about the appending question to come his way.

“How would you like to be... a superhero?” Jaime could have sworn he saw a glint light up the man’s eyes in conjunction with his confident voice. Jaime couldn’t even remember the last time he had ever seen anyone this remotely happy. Was this what it was like for people who lived in a Reach free time?

Jaime thought about the question. He had always wanted to be a superhero and use his powers for good. At first when Khaji Da had fused to his spine, he had been off mode for a few years and had rather enjoyed the new abilities. Well… this was after a rough and lengthy period of discourse with the scarab attached to his spine. But the pair eventually learned to coexist peacefully despite the scarab’s tendency to provide over performative and violent solutions to problems. Even Jaime’s family had eventually learned to like and accept the scarab.

One day however, a pair of Reach soldiers had barged into his family home and ordered him to come with them. Jaime remembered the painful day so vividly. He had refused, and upon doing so, they had resorted to manually extracting Jaime from the house. Of course Jaime put up a fight but the scarab wasn’t as advanced back then and whilst he managed to delay them; the battered and bruised soldiers eventually managed to subdue him. As they were dragging Jaime away, Jaime’s family had then decided to get involved despite his pleas begging them not to. The soldiers had then killed each of them as they tried to interfere. Even his younger sister Milagro. Jaime’s fists clenched at the memory so tightly they were beginning to hurt. 

Jaime took a moment to suppress the rage that started to boil up within him as he dwelled on how long he had been forced to work for the organisation directly responsible for the murder of his entire family. A rage so powerful it put the entire red lantern core to shame. But Jaime was safe now, and he wanted to do everything in his power to make up for the unspeakable actions he had committed under the control of the Reach.

They had experimented on him and tortured him trying to make some kind of progress with the scarab’s abilities. He had overheard the Reach scientist speak of some prophecy and caught snippets about unlocking Khaji Da’s true potential. He was still clueless as to what they knew that he didn’t. He was trained and sent out as a soldier, all against his will, to serve the Reach, largely in the hopes that his scarab would begin to develop under the close observation of the Reach. He felt like a bug in a jar. He was their favorite project. His thoughts drifted back to his family and how he had failed to protect them. He wanted to prove himself. He remembered how he had felt in that moment being dragged away from their lifeless bodies on the floor. He never wanted anybody else to feel that way ever again.

Looking up with a piercing gaze, Jaime accepted, “I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Michael exclaimed. He patted Jaime vigorously on the back. “Let’s go!”

“Go? Where?” Jaime’s voice coming off frosty as the residual memories of his past hadn’t quite yet evaporated from his consciousness. Jaime observed a momentary lapse in the man’s glint.

“To the Premiere Building. You have a new home now Jaime. A new team. It’s time to introduce you to everybody!” Michael wrapped an arm around Jaime and pulled him close to his side.

“Skeets!” The time travelling, egomaniac yelled out.

Jaime was about to ask what the heck was going on when he found himself suddenly teleported. He was now standing in the living area of what he could only assume was the aforementioned Premiere Building.

Jaime immediately noticed a bunch of metahumans sitting on the couch or loitering in nearby corridors. Khaji Da became instantly concerned by the number of potential threats and clicked furiously in a strong protest for control over the armor. Jaime was so taken aback by the scarab’s overwhelming demands and granted it permission without giving it a nanosecond of thought. Everybody immediately jumped back in surprise as Jaime’s armor shot down over him in the blink of an eye and his arm morphed into a plasma cannon aimed at them all. Khaji Da then requested that Jaime grant it permission to fire but Jaime had been able to get a bearing on his decision-making now and hesitated.

“Jaime! Stop!” Michael begged fear in his voice for the first time now since they had met.

Jaime gave the mental command to disengage to Khaji Da, who had no choice but to conform to the commands with great annoyance. Once Jaime’s armor had retracted again, everybody relaxed.

“No need to worry everyone!” Michael took a deep breath, “This is Jaime! He is one of us now! Welcome your new team mate!” Michael bellowed happily. It was amazing how quickly he could swap between emotions.

Those present in the room looked at Jaime. Most of them looked annoyed. He hadn’t exactly made a great first impression on them. Thankfully, Halo stepped forward with a giant smile to break the tension.

“Hi! I’m Halo Harper! You can call me Halo!” She exclaimed cheerily shaking his hand.

“I’m Jaime. You can call me Blue Beetle?” Jaime introduced himself in the same format unsure of himself. Jaime was surprised how friendly she was being given that he had almost just incinerated her, in addition to the fact that he hadn’t made even the slightest effort to smile or be friendly in return.

“Uh. This is Geo-Force! He is my boyfriend!” Halo eagerly waved him over.

“Nice to meet you.” Brion’s thick Markovian accent rang through Jaime’s ears.

Jaime went through over another few dozens of odd introductions not smiling at any point as he became acquainted with the heroes from multiple squads. He was glad Khaji Da could store their names (amongst other information) because he had forgotten most of them already.

“This is only about half of the team.” M’Gann smiled.

Jaime hadn’t see so many smiles in a day since… well ever. The last time he had seen a smile, it had been his mothers, on the fateful day he was trying desperately to keep out of his mind. M’Gann’s face wavered as she sensed immense emotional pain within him. M’Gann took it upon herself to provide Jaime with a distraction.

“Say Jaime. Why don’t I introduce you to the rest of the team!” She said putting a friendly hand on his shoulder.

Jaime eyed her hand on his shoulder and made a note of how touchy she was. Even though he knew it was all in good stead, it felt odd being touched. He was after all revered as a monster back in his time and he still felt like one.

“Ok, let me think. Who else haven’t you met yet?” M’Gann paused for a moment, “Hello Megan!” She sing-songed as she bopped her forehead with her palm. Jaime’s eyes widened as he tried to figure out what was going on.

“Jaime Reyes, these people are strange.” Khaji Da pointed out.

Jaime only nodded silently in response hoping she couldn’t hear Khaji Da in his mind.

“Here we are.” M’Gann stopped in front of a door. “Have you met Impulse yet?” She asked.

“Nope.” Jaime replied succinctly before releasing a heavy sigh. He was already exhausted. Today had been the biggest roller coaster of his life. He had finally after years of slavery, been freed from Reach control, then traveled to a different timeline, and now he was suddenly a superhero with a new home and new teammates! It was almost too much. A splitting headache had been brewing at the beginning of it all and now he was in the thick of it.

M’Gann knocked and turned outward when she suddenly heard Artemis call out to her.

“Oh! Sorry! I’ll be right back Jaime!” She said as she density shifted through the floor leaving Jaime standing by himself as the door flung open.


	3. When Crash Becomes Crush

Bart’s friendly, emerald eyes observed the stranger from his feet upwards. He hadn’t been expecting an unfamiliar face at his door. Bart took a moment to observe the handsome young man. He couldn’t have been much older than himself. Bart’s eye’s lapped up the smooth caramel skin and the warm cocoa eyes that tied it all together like the bow on a present box, the sight was a gift in itself. Bart couldn’t help but notice the frown on his face. It looked like it had been there a long time. It immediately saddened him somewhere deep down inside of him where it didn’t show.

“Uhh hi! Can I help you?” Bart asked a friendly smile on his face as he held onto the door with one hand.

“Uhh… I am Jaime. Jaime Reyes. I’m your new teammate.” Jaime offered eyebrows scrunched up unsure of what to say in M’Gann’s absence. Truth be told, he would have been a lot more comfortable if she was still by his side.

“Really!” Bart exclaimed excitedly, before rushing the short distance towards him with super speed to wrap him in a friendly hug.

Jaime’s eyes widened with surprise. He stood there arms pinned down, as stiff as a lamp post.

“And you thought M’Gann was touchy.” Khaji Da stated with perhaps the first subtle hint of amusement he had shared with Jaime since before going on mode which had been many, many years ago.

Bart stepped back and Jaime was too stunned to speak.

“You can call me Impulse, or Bart, or Bart Allen, or Bart Impulse Allen. It’s all crash!” He beamed a pearly white smile from ear to ear.

“Crash?” Jaime questioned with confusion wondering if he spoke some variation of another language.

“It means cool! Come on in!” Bart waved his hand invitingly as he turned around and walked leisurely into his room.

Jaime’s face morphed to an expression of confusion again. Why were people here so inviting?

“So tell me about yourself Jaime!” Bart wasted no time getting comfortable as he jumped on his messy, unmade bed and beckoned for Jaime to take a seat. Jaime instead chose to stand awkwardly in the center of his room on the grey carpet. Bart’s smile remained unphased.

“I’m from the future?” Jaime offered with uncertainty. He couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“What!” Bart exclaimed, “That’s so crash! Tell me more!” Bart was now lying with his head in hands on his bed, flicking his feet back and forth. Jaime could tell his interest was genuine. Jaime hadn’t felt like he had made a connection with anyone yet, and here was someone who thought he was cool. It was admittedly odd. Nobody had liked him from his own time (after going on mode). Everyone had known Jaime as just another merciless, monster of a Reach soldier.

Jaime shifted uncomfortably. “I’d rather not.” He cradled his left arm with his right. He felt... vulnerable. This was just too weird. He’d never felt vulnerable. Ever.

“Oh. That’s okay!” Bart reassured genuinely, “What’s your superhero name? Do you have a costume?” Bart asked eyebrows raising with curiosity.

“Blue Beetle. And yeh, I have an alien scarab attached to my spine that provides me with my ‘costume’”. Jaime used his fingers to frame the last word of his sentence.

“So crash!” Bart shouted with an impressed laugh, “Can I see it?”

Jaime shifted uncomfortably again. Bart got the message. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Bart raised his hands up apologetically before scratching his head and allowing a regretful frown to settle upon his lips.

Jaime felt something inside of him drop seeing the smile vanish from his face. He felt… guilty.

“Jaime Reyes. Why are you allowing yourself to be consumed by guilt. You owe the Bart Allen nothing!” Khaji Da hissed. Jaime rolled his eyes in response.

Bart mistook the eye roll for him. His face turned from sad to heartbroken.

“Oh! I wasn’t rolling my eyes at you. I was talking to my scarab.” Jaime explained pointing casually over his shoulder.

Bart’s face lit up again once he knew the eye roll wasn’t directed at him. “I can show you my costume if you want!”

Before Jaime could even answer, Bart was standing in front of him, arms outstretched above his head as he yelled, “Ta-Da!”

Jaime’s eyes widened as he finally put two and two together. Bart was a speedster. The hug should have been the first clue but it hadn’t clicked until seeing the light, rose colored Flash emblem on his chest. The inside of the emblem was bolded by a white circular background whilst the outside of the emblem was swimming in a sea of mustard yellow. The yellow continued until it reached the limbs which were separated by distinct, blood red lines; where other shades of red and in some places, a dusty grey, filled out the remainder of the uniform. Bart raised his transparent, apricot orange visor to reveal dangerously green eyes.

“Whadaya think?” Bart asked, his reminiscent of the stone jade eyes, wide with anticipation.

“You’re a speedster.” Jaime popped out quietly, weakly pointing a finger at the emblem on his chest.

“Doi!” Bart chuckled. He continued to stare at Jaime with a giant smile as he awaited some sort of validation.

Jaime nodded approvingly. Still didn’t smile, but validated Bart in the closest way he had with anyone since returning to the past.

“Oh. I see you’ve met Bart!” M’Gann noted cheerily as she returned to the room, “Come with me Jaime, I will show you to your room!”

“I can do that!” Bart blurted out frantically before becoming somewhat awkwardly shy.

“Bart do you even know where his room is?” M’Gann giggled, folding her arms across her chest.

“Uhh…” Bart gave it some thought, then he snapped upwards like a soldier reporting for duty without the salute. He had just figured out the most likely scenario; his grin grew wider in the hopes his guess was right. The room next to his was empty, could it be that the impossibly attractive Latino was staying in the room next to his own? 

“Room B-22?” Bart gritted his teeth nervously internally crossing his fingers behind his back.

“Lucky guess.” M’Gann smirked, “Alright off you go.” The martian nodded in the direction of the door.

“Crash!” Bart exclaimed lunging forwards and grabbing a hold of Jaime’s hand before dragging him out of the room at a speed that almost caused him to fall over. M’Gann shook her head as she straightened her navy cape which Bart’s gust of speed had just blown over her shoulder turning it into a scarf.

Bart opened the door to the empty room and walked in, “This is your room Jaime! You have the room next to mine!” Bart said wearing a massive smile as his hands settled above his hips.

“Why does the Bart Allen state blatantly obvious facts?” Khaji Da sassed.

Jaime rolled his eyes again in response to the scarab. Bart saw it again but assumed it was not meant for him this time.

“Sure it’s all bare bones and no panache, but you can redecorate!” Bart shoved his arms outwards to gesture the possibilities as he swiveled around on one leg completing a full circle.

“Gracias- I mean thanks.” Jaime corrected, unsure of Bart’s level of experience with Spanish.

Jaime stared back at the speedster who smiled back. After a few moments of continuous staring at one another, Bart got the message.

“Oh! Aha. I will leave you to it! Just let me know if you need anything amigo!” Bart chanted as he leaned against the door frame trying to look cool before zipping out of sight closing the door behind him as he laughed nervously.

Jaime shook his head. There was no denying Bart was the oddest person he had met so far. And yet strangely, he felt a small connection to Bart. Maybe it was because he had been saved by a speedster in the future. Maybe it was because he had certainly seemed the friendliest out of all the people he had met that day. And that was saying something after having met Halo.

Jaime walked over slowly to his close to the ground bed. He laid down on the dull, grey sheets. The pillow and duvet were a darker shade of grey and were tucked up neatly in a pile on the end of the bed. He didn’t bother fetching them, he just wanted to lay down and process the most unexpected and unbelievable day he had ever had.

Bart slammed his door shut and slid down against the back of it. He knew damn well he had a slight crush on this newcomer Jaime. He was eighteen and had had a few crushes before. But this one was by far the most electrifying, and it felt different, but in a good way. As in, he could not explain in words how incredible it felt. Bart gently banged the back of his head against the door as he realized the likely implications his crush would have on him during missions if he was indeed working side by side with Jaime.

Bart knew he was getting ahead of himself, but he just couldn’t help it. There was just something about him. A connection of some kind that could not be easily explained.

X


	4. Breakfast In Bed

Jaime woke up the next day. More rather, he had never actually fallen asleep. His mind couldn’t stop spinning. He was trying to deal with the uneasiness that had been brought about by hearing he was allegedly a threat to the well-being of the entire universe. Well... the threat he was apparently destined to become back in his own time. He was still reeling from how quickly this had all happened. He wondered whether he’d ever be able to go back to his own time. Whether he would want to. Whether the awful future he was to be directly responsible for, had somehow been averted. Suddenly, he heard a chipper knock at the door.

Further down the corridor from Jaime’s room, Cassie nudged Tim and whispered, “What’s up with Bart? Since when does he ever knock?” Dozens of memories came flooding back into the detective’s mind of times where Bart had forgotten to knock and had barged in on people. Luckily he had not walked in on anybody naked yet. But that speedster had an over-entheusiam that could get him into trouble on the daily.

Tim shrugged. Honestly, he didn’t care to solve that puzzle at the moment. He was too busy thinking about the team’s last mission and the discussion he had had with Batman afterwards regarding his leadership skills. Cassie noted his disinterest and gave up.

Bart let himself in after a second of waiting.

“Good morn- Oh. Wow. Jaime. You look… tired.” Bart cringed looking at the bags under Jaime’s eyes, “Just a sec!”

Bart vanished momentarily, returning with a red tray balancing breakfast on it. The ceramic, white plate hosted a large, steaming, fluffy bed of scrambled eggs on buttered toast. The toast sat adjacent to crispy, uniquely varying in lengths, strips of shortcut bacon. Balancing dangerously near the edge of the tray was a full glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.

“There you go! All the things you need to help perk you up amigo!” Bart beamed proudly.

“Gracias?” Jaime offered completely sleep deprived as he accepted the tray Bart held out to him.

Jaime was so tired he almost dropped the tray. He fumbled for a split second before Bart used his super speed to duck down and catch the base of the tray, thereby giving Jaime a moment to sober up as the orange juice had partly sloshed on him. Their fingers were overlapping slightly under the tray. Bart looked up at Jaime for a moment during the hand to hand contact before quickly pulling his hand away as if he had been caught stealing from the cookie jar.

“Ooh. Ah. Sorry!” He shrugged nonchalantly before clamping his hands together awkwardly in front of him.

Jaime wasn’t even sure what he was apologizing for at this point.

“Anyway. Enjoy!” Bart exclaimed after a singular, nervous chuckle. He flashed an all-teeth grin before vanishing leaving a light breeze behind highlighting the orange juice saturated segments of his shirt. Jaime shivered.

“I suggest you eat the breakfast. It is rich in protein and the orange juice is filled with Vitamin C. The Bart Allen has fixed you a suitable and nutritional breakfast. I scanned it and it is poison free.” Khaji Da informed happily.

That comment was enough to wake Jaime up completely, “Dios mio! He wouldn’t try to poison me!” Jaime scoffed. He may have not known Bart for very long but it was clear as day that it was not in Bart’s nature to do anything malicious. The speedster was as sweet as the orange juice he had taken a sip of moments later.

“You never know. It is important not to trust anyone in this timeline. Each to their own could have an agenda Jaime Reyes.” Khaji Da said dripping with paranoia.

“Estas loco!” Jaime scorned shaking his head.

Jaime made no effort to leave his room that day. He remained sitting on his bed. The breakfast had certainly helped him to feel more lively. As lively as one could feel, considering they were unable to sleep due to having to process the weight of the world on their shoulders. All day Jaime remained in his orange juice stained shirt. He thought about changing into a fresh shirt, but somehow his current shirt served as a nice reminder of Bart. In fact, Jaime was beginning to think a lot about Bart. It served as a great distraction from thinking about the many issues he had to ponder. He was now wondering about what Bart did with his days instead of how he would somehow destroy the universe. Khaji Da encouraged Jaime to leave his room after a few hours of having sat still, but he wasn’t having any of it. The rest of the day went by surprisingly quickly for Jaime now that he had a sea of Bart related thoughts to wade through. And then it happened, Jaime actually managed to fall asleep.

The next morning Jaime shifted tangled in his sheets as he heard the quick knock again. Surely enough, it was Bart bringing him breakfast again. This time it was a bowl of cereal, a small tub of yogurt and an apple juice. Bart continued to do this every morning for a week. With each new day Bart appeared at his door with yet a new mixture of breakfast options, Jaime found himself growing more perplexed with the speedster’s generosity. Khaji Da and Jaime had casually bickered over the topic until Jaime had decided to do something about it. At the end of the week, Jaime grabbed Bart by the wrist just as he was about to leave. Bart was stunned to say the least and turned around with a relaxed expression of surprise.

“You know you don’t have to keep bringing me breakfast?” Jaime sterned.

Bart tilted his head. He was admittedly confused. Who couldn’t appreciate a free breakfast that was already prepared by someone else for you? He even took care of the dishes afterwards!

“I know.” Bart smiled trying not to think about the hand wrapped around his wrist that was making it difficult for him to concentrate.

“Then why do you keep bringing me breakfast?” Jaime’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Because…” Bart paused as he tried to blink away the sadness brewing inside of him, “It’s a nice a thing to do?” Bart’s soft voice slightly raised in pitch.

“Right?” Jaime breathed out unsurely as he let go of Bart’s thin wrist slowly.

Bart dashed out of Jaime’s room wearing a fake smile. Bart began to fear that he may have overstepped with the newcomer. Maybe it was considered rude to bring others food in the future? Honestly, he wasn’t sure what to think anymore. But Bart reminded himself, he didn’t actually know what Jaime’s future had entailed, and therefore, he should be patient with Jaime. He desperately wanted to befriend Jaime, and he seemed to be making no progress at all which was largely disheartening. Jaime hadn’t once smiled, or even laughed at any of his jokes. Of course, with Jaime having hibernated in his boring room (which he still hadn’t decorated) for the entire past week, that meant they hadn’t actually spent a lot of time together. Just a few brief conversations here and there during his breakfast deliveries.

“My scans indicate you upset the Bart Allen.” Khaji Da’s scolding voice rang through Jaime’s mind.

“Que? How? Also… Why do you care?” Jaime asked, his sass getting whiplash as it suddenly morphed into complete curiosity.

“The Bart Allen has been taking good care of you. You, Jaime Reyes, are my host and therefore when he takes good care of  _ you _ , he is taking good care of  _ us _ . If you offend the Bart Allen, he might stop treating us nicely. And you have not been taking good care of us. Recommended tactic: Invite him to stay for breakfast tomorrow.” Khaji Da suggested.

Jaime was astounded. Khaji Da had never really suggested that he do anything nice for anybody before. Not even his parents. And they took better care of him than Bart did. Jaime was shocked that Khaji Da was displaying a slither of human emotion. But Khaji Da wasn’t wrong. Now that Jaime had thought about it, he had been rather rude. Most of the time he didn’t even thank Bart for bringing him breakfast. 

After so many years of feeling only numbness (having become the epitome of a puppet), he had forgotten what it was like to be human. He was human again now though. His parents had raised him to have manners. He was a long way from the boy he used to be. He looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes trying to visualise Bianca and Alberto beside him. He liked to talk to them sometimes when he found himself in a predicament or when he felt lonely. This was especially the case when he was on mode. He believed it was the only thing that kept him sane during the darkest time of his life.

It only dawned upon him when Khaji Da interrupted him during his visualization technique (something his programming had never allowed whilst on mode) that Khaji Da had also technically been a slave to the Reach, just as he had been. Jaime had found it hard to feel pity for the scarab though, given it was responsible for them being in this predicament.

“Jaime Reyes, I’m sorry for your loss.” Khaji Da had almost sounded shy.

Jaime began to tear up. He swallowed thickly as he cast his eyes to the blank wall beside him in an effort to stop the water works. He hadn’t ever heard Khaji Da express its condolences before. Jaime began crying fully as he struggled to feel connected to his parents now that he was in the past. He had left them behind in his future. Not that he had had it in the future, but he had no graves to visit here. He felt so truly alone (Khaji Da didn’t count). And yet, there was someone, a speedster, named Bart, who wanted to be his friend. He wondered whether he should do the one thing that scared him most, and let someone in.

The very next morning, Jaime waited patiently for the knock on the smooth, oak door. He almost didn’t think Bart was coming as he still hadn’t shown up, and it was way past the regular time Bart usually arrived. Khaji Da began lecturing him about his rude actions the day prior when he finally heard the knock at his door, softer this time.

“Come in.” Jaime stated calmly.

Bart slinked in slowly with a tray, stopping in the middle of Jaime’s room.

“Uhh hey. I wasn’t sure if you wanted breakfast? I made some just in case for you, but I thought I’d check first.” Bart shrugged non-committedly as he spoke so softly that it made Jaime angry at himself for so clearly having upset the speedster. He wasn’t fooling Jaime, he was committed.

“I only want breakfast on one condition.” Jaime said allowing a bit of that anger to drip into his tone.

“What is it?” Bart asked looking immediately concerned having feared he may have somehow just inadvertently made things with Jaime worse as indicated by the tone he had used.

“That you stay and have breakfast with me too.” Jaime returned seriously. He certainly could have sounded a lot happier about it, but his emotions were a work in progress. This would have to do for now.

“Seriously?” Bart beamed as his shoulders relaxed and his neck craned higher in a newly found confidence, showing off his prominent collarbones that resided under his red, raglan shirt.

“Is that a yes or no?” Jaime asked as he sat still on the edge of his bed staring at the speedster who stared back at him just beaming.

“Yes! Definitely! Yes!” Bart said quickly like an excited puppy before shoving the tray into Jaime’s arms eagerly and disappearing in the blink of an eye and returning with a tray of his own. His tray was supporting a stack of pancakes as tall as his forearm, wobbling on a plate.

Jaime’s eyes widened ever slightly at the staggeringly tall stack of pancakes covered in enough maple syrup to paint the entire Premiere Building brown.

“You’re not going to eat all that are you?” Jaime’s face made it evident he was disturbed.

“Yeh! I’m a speedster, so my metabolism is really fast. I constantly have to eat to keep my energy up!” Bart explained as his eyes cascaded down the magnificent, leaning tower of pancakes sitting before him.

Jaime nodded. It did make sense from a scientific perspective. It was just mind boggling to watch someone eat that much food knowing a regular person would literally explode from that sheer quantity of food. Not to mention how sickly sweet all that maple syrup would have been. When Bart had finished consuming the fluffy pancakes, which only took a matter of seconds, he sat patiently and watched Jaime eat until he had also finished.

“Thanks for breakfast amigo!” Bart chirped happily before vanishing with both of their trays.

After a few moments of his absence, Jaime assumed Bart wasn’t returning to his room. “He likes to call me amigo a lot.” Jaime directed at Khaji Da thoughtfully. Jaime was just trying to be polite to the speedster, not encouraging his confusing quest to befriend him. Jaime had no idea why Bart seemingly wanted to become his friend.

“Is that not a good thing? Do you not want a friend?” Khaji Da asked. Jaime felt like the scarab had crawled up a tad higher on his back in anticipation of the answer, knowing full well that he was imagining it.

“I don’t do friends. I hurt the people I care about Khaji Da. I can’t protect the people I care about. So what’s the point?” Jaime explained his line of thinking, his tone becoming awfully defensive whilst doing so. Jaime took a moment to process Jaime’s question.

“In order to function, I require a host body. This is one example of why collaboration is important and meaningful.”

“That’s your example!” Jaime spat with irritation, “God forbid the world didn’t have you in it.” Jaime remarked sarcastically.

“Indeed.” The scarab affirmed genuinely.

Jaime groaned and rolled his eyes.

X


	5. Pride Comes Before A Fall

Jaime was having his first sparring session today. Booster Gold had knocked on his door early in the morning and insisted he make an effort to finally leave his room, and socialize, and train with the team. Jaime begrudgingly agreed after the initial disappointment that had been thinking it was Bart at his door only to find it was Michael. When Bart did eventually show up at his door, a tray of breakfast for each of them, Jaime had been afraid the speedster was going to explode with joy when he had asked if Bart would escort him to the training room. Jaime didn’t know where the training room was, but it was evident Bart seemed too happy to help him.

The pair still had an hour or so to kill before it was time to spar so Jaime made the effort to initiate a conversation with Bart. Jaime began by asking Bart about his powers and was surprised when Bart quickly decided to make himself comfortable on his bed beside him. It didn’t take long, but Jaime learned truly just how much Bart could talk. Jaime had never met someone so talkative in his entire life. Bart had said more words to Jaime than he could count.

Bart was still cracking jokes in an attempt to get Jaime to laugh, all to no avail. Jaime had felt like he was getting to know his new ‘neighbor’ a little bit better personally. Bart was quite flirty and cheeky when he wanted to be, but he was always friendly and reverted to the more serious side of himself when necessary. Today Jaime would get to know Bart better in terms of his fighting style, a front on which he was completely unsure of what to expect. Bart hadn’t disclosed much about his powers, having opted to slowly reveal his different capabilities.

It wasn’t long before the hour was up and Bart was leading Jaime into the elevator and up to the sparring floor. The entire floor was dedicated to training; beginning with the sparring ring, gym, swimming pool and other training facilities. Jaime noted how ludicrously tall this particular floor of the building was. He could have flown around with his eyes closed without any fear of hitting the ceiling, that’s how tall it was.

Bart and Jaime walked together as they joined the other superheroes crowded around the outside of the sparring ring. Jaime had rocked up to training in a navy jumper and black track pants. Everyone else was wearing their costumes. Needless to say, he felt out of place, but he wasn’t going to armor up unless he had to.

“Ok everyone, did you see what Nightwing did wrong?” Artemis asked smirking happily.

Nightwing groaned in embarrassment as he rubbed his behind, a hand on both cheeks.

“He allowed me to take the beach towel.” Artemis explained with a mocking grin.

“You guys train with a beach towel?” Jaime’s serious question cut through the snickering of the crowd. A few members of the team managed to contain a gasp as they were shocked to see Jaime out and about. He had formerly become known as the recluse from the future. Bart had stuck up for Jaime and put a few people in their place when being so quick to judge him. He had actually taken a small amount of teasing over his eagerness to jump to Jaime’s defense.

“It’s a running joke.” Artemis quickly regaled Jaime with the story of how it all began resulting in Forager giggling from within the crowd.

Everyone stared at Jaime waiting for him to laugh at any point throughout Artemis’ retelling of the story, but his face didn’t move a muscle. It made others cringe of how devoid of emotion he was. It almost wasn’t human.

“You had to be there I guess…” Artemis concluded in an effort to try to help Jaime feel at ease.

Artemis began pairing the heroes together for sparring matches. Jaime observed with curiosity to learn how others fought. It had actually provided as a bonding experience for him and Khaji Da as they discussed the fighting techniques they witnessed in his mind.

“Jaime! You’re up!” The archer notified after a dozen rounds of sparring matches.

Jaime slowly walked into the sparring ring. His eyes observed the worn, black, painted circle that the fighters were implicitly encouraged to stay within. He then watched as his sparring opponent, Eduardo, teleported into the ring. Bart bit his lip nervously as he began to worry about Jaime walking away from this sparring match injured. Bart wasn’t sure if Jaime knew how to fight.

“Get ready Jaime Reyes, we need to show that we are the superior fighter. Establishing dominance within the group is important.” Jaime grinned internally listening to the competitive nature of Khaji Da’s tone. Eduardo grinned at Jaime’s emotionless face mistaking it for fear.

Eduardo immediately began throwing punches and kicks, all of which Jaime avoided with ease. Stunned looks spread across the faces of the onlookers. Bart was the most shocked, he had no idea his new friend had such skills. Jaime continued to effortlessly evade Eduardo’s advances and didn’t even make an effort to fight back. This was mostly due to him listening to Khaji Da as he analysed Eduardo’s fighting and provided progressively better advice on how to combat him.

The teleporter was beginning to get annoyed and teleported behind Jaime to get in a dirty shot, however Khaji Da had informed Jaime of his intentions so that Jaime was able to put an end to the fight. As Eduardo’s particles were reassembling, Jaime immediately dropped to the floor confusing all in the audience. And with one swift motion, Jaime swung his leg out with the force of his entire body weight behind it, suddenly sweeping Eduardo off his feet and onto his backside. His timing was so precise that only Bart was able to appreciate the technologically computed accurate timing of it all by viewing it all in a slower speed. Everyone gasped having not expected Jaime to kick Eduardo’s ass.

Jaime stood up nonchalantly. People began clapping unsurely. Some were impressed and some were admittedly scared. Jaime offered out a hand to Eduardo to help him up, however he chose to ignore it and stood up on his own before teleporting out of the ring. Khaji Da commented on his negative first impression of Eduardo.

“Great work Jaime!” Artemis complimented. Even she knew she would struggle to hold her own if she were to spar against Jaime. Given that they were encouraged to use their powers during the sparring matches, Artemis kept a close eye on Jaime having been made aware of his weapons of mass destruction.

Jaime remained in the ring and continued to beat every opponent he faced. He was starting to garner support from his teammates (the ones who weren’t holding a grudge). And then it was time for him to verse Bart.

Bart slowly walked into the sparring ring. He was contemplating what to do regarding the sparring match. He didn’t want to hurt Jaime, and that was mostly how these sparring matches ended. Bart didn’t want to humiliate Jaime either by slapping him on the butt with a towel (as customary in their new sparring culture). And the thought of Jaime slapping him on the butt with a towel, well… at that point Bart would have willingly lost. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, Jaime had refused to use the towel from the beginning as he had deemed it childish and disrespectful. Bart got ready in a running stance and waited for Artemis’ signal to begin.

Bart wasted no time starting the fight upon her signal. Bart knew the trick was to always strike first. Jaime stood unphased in the middle of the sparring ring as Bart ran circles around him. That was until Bart suddenly accelerated so fast he soon found himself floating midair spinning around with absolutely no bearing on anything. He was about to armor up to stabilize himself to a surface or counter the attack, but then he suddenly found himself falling again before he could process what was happening. He landed with a soft bounce into Bart’s awaiting arms. Bart then dropped him from waist height on to the floor, hoping it hadn’t hurt too much. He wasn’t about to let Jaime hit the floor from ceiling height, and sparring matches had to end up with someone getting ‘hurt’, so this was his solution.

Jaime couldn’t feel the pain in his own backside over the overwhelming embarrassment from having lost to Bart, and with a merciful finish too. It was the first fight he had lost that day. Jaime was in the midst of scolding Khaji Da for allowing them to be shown up like that when Nightwing spoke up.

“Alright team, that’s enough. You’re dismissed.”

“Sorry!” Bart offered guiltily before dashing off to his room as everyone in the crowd began to disperse. A few minutes later Bart heard a knock at his door and invited the unknown visitor in.

“Was that really necessary?” Jaime snapped charging into Bart’s room.

“Well I mean, I didn’t want to hurt you! You’re my friend! That’s why I caught you!” Bart justified defensively.

“You humiliated me out there!” Jaime pointed in the general direction of the sparring ring.

“I’m sorry?” Bart shrugged unsure of how else to react. Bart couldn’t  _ not _ fight Jaime, they had to spar. It was a training requirement. And Bart had wanted to impress Jaime. However his plan had not panned out quite as expected.

Jaime crossed his arms and frowned as he murmured something to Khaji Da, but Bart heard his name in there somewhere. Bart decided to try and be his charming, effervescent self to smooth over Jaime’s anger.

“Admit it Jaime, you like me!” Bart teased in his friendly nature, making his eyebrows jump playfully.

“No en este momento...” Jaime grumbled.

“Aww! I like you too buddy!” Bart cooed affectionately throwing an arm over Jaime’s shoulder.

“That’s not what that means.” Jaime spoke through gritted teeth before sliding out of Bart’s hold angrily and storming out of the room.

“Jaime wait!” Bart called out after his new friend, his tone saturated in regret.

Bart dashed out the short distance and knocked on Jaime’s door.

“Go away!” Jaime shouted. Bart understood the request clearly despite the door having muffled the two words.

“I’m sorry Jaime!” Bart yelled loud enough for his apology to make it back through the door, but preferably not loud enough for others to overhear. He rested his forehead against the door before whispering again, “I’m sorry…”

Bart slinked back to his room slowly. Sadness was one of two reasons he ever walked somewhere as opposed to running. The other reason was when he was deep in thought. Right now he couldn’t help but feel bad for embarrassing Jaime. He hadn’t wanted to hurt Jaime physically, and he had achieved that goal. But instead, he had hurt Jaime’s pride. His attempt to try and smooth things over with the angry Latino had only ticked him off more. Jaime would likely want nothing to do with him after this. He certainly didn’t seem like the forgiving type.

X


	6. Distractions To The Heart

“Jaime are you sure you are ready for this?” Artemis asked. Jaime knew she wouldn’t hold it against him if he were to answer ‘no’. The team all stared at him wide-eyed in anticipation of his response. Jaime felt like that suspicious parcel at the airport conveyor belt being eyed by all the security personnel.

“I’m ready.” Jaime responded in a tone that hinted towards him resenting the question in the first place. Who was she to question his skills and abilities? He wondered if the doubt came from that sparring match he had lost to Bart.

The quietness quickly dissipated after Jaime’s response, and the team once again broke out in idle chatter in the established groups of friendship.

Bart subtly leaned over the back of Jaime’s chair in the bio ship, “Are you excited for your first mission amigo?”

Jaime chose not to respond. Bart realized he was wasting his time with a still steaming mad Jaime. It had been a fortnight and Jaime still hadn’t forgiven Bart for humiliating him in front of the team. Bart sadly reclined back into his chair leaving his arms slumped in between his legs.

“Don’t worry Bart. I’m sure he will come around.” M’Gann’s soft voice echoed in Bart’s mind and only his. Bart thanked her back, although it did feel a little weird to have someone openly acknowledge his obvious pursuit of Jaime’s friendship when he had been hoping for it to have been as stealthy as their upcoming mission required them all to be.

“We’re here.” Tim announced closing an array of holographic projections at the front of the ship.

The team all followed in Jaime’s example and became silent as the bio ship landed. The organic ship grew support beams outwards to meet the uneven terrain of the forest’s floor, providing for the smoothest landing that couldn’t be matched by any man-made vehicle in existence. The door melted down into a bridge to meet the dark brown soil. The team filed out one by one as they strode bravely into the forest, none of them even the slightest bit concerned of danger.

“Mind link established.” M’Gann’s voice echoed in the minds of each team member.

“Don’t forget, we have our digital link too should anything happen to the mind link.” Nightwing reminded. It was mainly for Jaime’s sake, however he didn’t directly address his underlying intention in front of the team. Jaime had become potently serious and nobody wanted to begin peeling off his metaphorical sticker of patience fearing he would tear them a new one.

Startling them all, they all heard Conner speak, “I can hear something approaching and f-”

Conner’s chin, which lead the rest of his body like a conga line, went flying into a tree trunk with a dangerously loud thud. Everyone turned to attack the golden android brazenly standing still in his place.

“I am A.M.A.Z.O.” The android grabbed a lunging Aquaman by his arm before he was able to reach for his weaponry handles, and tossed him with the strength he had acquired from Conner up and out of the umbrella of green leaves that the large trees above them had provided.

“You cannot defeat me. I have already acquired a lot of super powers from villains and superheroes alike. I am unstoppable.” The android took out Artemis, Nightwing and Zatanna simultaneously by using Count Vertigo’s mind blast on them. That immediately prompted the rest of the team to all attack the robot at once. The android swapped to Conner’s super strength again and stomped the ground with enough pressure to cause a reasonable Earthquake. All the team members fell into the cracks that opened up in the ground. Chaos erupted as they were each forced to fend for their lives as trees began collapsing in every which direction.

Cassie flew up and held a tree in place to stop it from crushing Bart, Jaime and Virgil. Miss Martian flicked her right wrist at the android hoping her telekinesis would propel it far enough away that the team would have a moment to regroup, however it had changed to Devastation's powers causing her efforts to merely shift his new found heavy, dense mass of a body only a mere foot backwards. At the same time she used her left hand to levitate the trees above several other team members to save them all from being crushed into the soil. Everybody else had managed to narrowly escape being flattened and continued to attack the android.

“Tim!” Cassie shrieked as she watched the android dislocate his arm with a spine-chilling crack.

She gritted her teeth and swung the tree at the pile of metal only to be disappointed when it phased through the tree having acquired Miss Martians density shifting abilities. The robot already had telepathy which it had acquired from Psimon. Then swapping to Psimon’s powers, the android tore into Cassie’s mind causing her to scream. She fell out of the sky and M’Gann instantly flew to her side to begin fixing her mind and ordered the team to provide cover.

The android continued to become more aggressive knocking Virgil unconscious and then using his super powers to electrocute Eduardo unconscious as well. Using its newly acquired metapower of teleportation, the android made short work of Artemis, Nightwing and Zatanna who were up and fighting again. Blue Beetle blasted A.M.A.Z.O. with a sonic cannon as Conner regained composure and began angrily attacking the android. Due to Jaime’s distraction, Conner was able to put a dent in the perfectly smooth golden chest plate of the android. The infringement of its personal space seemed to make it even more aggressive. 

It knocked Conner unconscious using his own strength against him before reverting to M’Gann’s previously acquired telekinesis and levitating a large boulder above Jaime’s head. As Jaime aimed his sonic cannon to blast the rock into a million pieces resulting in only pebbles raining down on his head, the android willed Wondergirl’s sword which had been lying in close proximity to his feet, to fly right at his chest. Unfortunately, Jaime had been distracted by the rock and blowing it up to even notice the sword flying towards his chest. Khaji Da shouted at Jaime to alert him to the next danger he had to take care of but it was too late. The sword sank deep into Bart’s chest and came to a grinding halt.

“Bart!” Jaime shouted in shock. The speedster had just fearlessly lunged in front of him and taken a sword to the chest to protect him. Jaime immediately found himself thrown back to the memory of his family all giving up their lives to protect him. Is that how much he had meant to Bart? It cut deep.

Bart fell to his knees and Jaime immediately ran forward and grabbed his sides to stop him from face planting into the ground and driving the sword clean through him. Jaime knelt in front of him frantically begging for advice from his scarab on what to do. Bart looked up at Jaime with tears in his eyes as he coughed up blood.

“No! No! No!” Jaime shouted angrily as he furiously squeezed Bart’s shoulders begging him to stay with him. Upon Khaji Da’s request, Jaime pulled out the bloody sword and laid it on the ground beside Bart. Khaji Da had scanned Bart and said the best thing Jaime could do was give his body a chance to heal using his super speed without the sword infringing on that process.

“Will he be okay?” Jaime asked as he didn’t dare take his eyes off of Bart’s fading, jade ones.

“That depends on how quickly the Bart Allen can heal. I am unsure of his cellular regeneration rates as they are unpredictable in a speedster and vary depending on many factors.” The scarab responded with pity in his voice. “Jaime Reyes, please grant me full control so I can eliminate the A.M.A.Z.O. android. It is not an organism so destroying it should not bother you.” Khaji Da was sure to address the one fear that would have had Jaime refusing on the spot.

Jaime looked back at Bart whose eyes were closing, he felt sick to his stomach, “Do it.”

Jaime’s head shot upwards as gritted his teeth feeling the scarab take full control over his body. Khaji Da turned Jaime around and flew straight at the android. The android scanned Jaime in the attempt to absorb his power but was unable to due to the fact that the scarab was an external entity and not a metahuman power. A.M.A.Z.O. was only able to absorb genetic metahuman abilities. The scan gave Khaji Da the ability to get a punch in, creating another dent, this time in the android’s head.

The android began to lift a hand to inflict bodily harm on Khaji Da and Jaime when Khaji Da quickly staple gunned its hand down and punctured the androids chest with their arm before firing the sonic cannon at its highest frequency causing the entire android to explode in a bright display of reds, oranges and yellows. The flash was blinding and caused everyone who was still conscious to shield their eyes from the newly created sun.

Khaji Da initiated the regression protocol assigning control of the scarab and host body, back to Jaime. He was beyond relief that Khaji Da had returned control to him after achieving its objective. Jaime was so relieved he had almost forgotten about Bart. Jaime turned around and ran over to Bart who was now peacefully lying unconscious along the sword that had impaled him.

“Is he ali-” Jaime began.

“Yes. He is in coma though as his body is repairing itself. I don’t know how long he will be unconscious for but he should be taken to a medical facility and be placed on a drip and antibiotics immediately.” Khaji Da advised.

“Si. I’ll take him back to the Premiere Building’s medical bay.” Jaime responded.

“Hang on Jaime.” M’Gann interrupted. “Bart’s not the only one who needs to go to the medical bay.” The martian gestured at all Jaime’s fallen comrades scattered about all lying unconscious on the messy, debris of leaves and dirt layering the forest floor.

“Jaime. Help me load everybody up on to the bio ship.” A reawakened Conner demanded after grunting in agony.

“Si.” Jaime answered back as he scooped up a limp Bart and flew him onto the bio ship first. Jaime then carried Wondergirl per M’Ganns request, followed by Virgil and Eduardo whilst Conner carried the other unconscious team members aboard the bio ship.

Aqualad had managed to make the large trek back to the team relatively quickly by swimming down a nearby river and walking the remainder of the way. He was panting by the time he stumbled aboard the bio ship. Artemis and Nightwing had walked around collecting the parts of the android they could locate before storing them in cardboard boxes for later analysis.

M’Gann broke her psychic link with Wondergirl momentarily and informed the team that they were leaving. They hadn’t had a chance to investigate the underground facilities the Light had supposedly been hiding near those coordinates which was the reason they had been sent in the first place.

“Nightwing to Batman. Send the Justice League to these coordinates to take over Mission #324. Code Blue, many of us are down and are heading to the medical bay at the Premiere Building.”

“Acknowledged.” A gruff and disapproving tone responded.

Nightwing was flooded with guilt that he had to ask the Justice League to take over their mission, but it was more important to ensure all the lives of his injured team members were seen to. The team had just faced a rather formidable foe, so the Justice League now had the easiest part of the mission left, to investigate the underground facility the Light had.

The Justice League was soon on site and was able to safely seize and destroy enough nuclear weapons to blow up the Earth. The Justice League were worried how the Light would retaliate to the destruction of their hidden arsenal but it was a threat Batman was tasked with preparing for; and the entire Justice League had faith in his abilities to predict their future machinations.

X


	7. Decorations In Abundance

Jaime sat in the chair beside Bart’s bed in the medical bay drumming his fingers on the pink, plastic arm of the chair he was sitting in. He thought about how unfair it was that everyone else had recovered by now except for Bart. Tim had had his arm fixed first, Cassie was fine now and everyone else who had been rendered unconscious was awake. The only person who wasn’t okay, was Bart. And the only reason he wasn’t, was because he had taken a particularly spiteful and strategical hit devised by the android meant for Jaime. What was he thinking?

Jaime stood up and hovered over the side of Bart’s bed looking down at the peaceful speedster. Bart looked relatively lifeless as he laid still (something Jaime was not accustomed to seeing) in his white hospital gown. His hair was quite messy and just looking at it made Jaime want to run a comb through it. Sometimes Jaime could usually tolerate his hair, most of the time he even thought it looked good, but right now it just looked messy. And not the good kind of messy, like the cute but faint freckles splayed across the speedster’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry Bart.” Jaime turned and charged away, heading back towards his room. Jaime had felt the need to apologise to Bart; especially for having been so cruel to him before he had taken the life saving hit for Jaime.

“What are you doing?” Khaji Da asked with a hint of annoyance.

“I’m going back to my room.” Jaime didn’t slow down and kept striding down the narrow hallway.

“You should be keeping the Bart Allen company! That way you will know when he is conscious, and can apologise when he can hear it.” Khaji Da was testing Jaime’s patience. After all, Khaji Da didn’t care if Jaime got mad at him.

“You don’t get it Khaji Da!” Jaime finally stopped charging towards his room like a man on a mission and threw his arms up in frustration. “I’m not being Bart’s friend! I’m sick of people who care about me getting injured. Especially when they get hurt because they are trying to protect me!” Jaime blinked furiously as he struggled to repress his past.

Khaji Da observed the increase in Jaime’s heart rate as his chest heaved in and out with the lingering memories of his family having sacrificed themselves for him. Jaime couldn’t even see anymore. His eyes were open but he couldn’t see anything except for the faces of his family, and then Bart when he had looked up at Jaime in the forest with nothing but pure fear in his eyes. Jaime knew that look. He was scared it was ending all too soon. And now it could be if Bart didn’t heal over properly, and it was all Jaime’s fault. He snapped out of the thoughts and continued charging to his room.

“Jaime Reyes. You must return to the Bart Allen’s side at once!” Khaji Da ordered.

“No. I won’t.” Jaime said sternly.

After a minute of silence, Khaji Da having given up, Jaime reached his room and jumped back in surprise when he no longer recognized it.

“What the hell happened to my room?” Jaime questioned his eyebrows furrowed in utter confusion.

His eyes spotted a note on his pillow. His pillow, that was now covered in a silky, teal pillow case as opposed to the lifeless grey one it used to live inside. Jaime read the note in his mind to Khaji Da.

“Dear Jaime, I’m sorry for making you feel the mode in our first sparring match. I decorated your room for you in the hopes it would bring you some happiness because I still haven’t seen you smile yet amigo. Hope you can forgive me. Love Bart.”

Jaime’s jaw fell down just low enough to allow a sad sigh to escape his body. He looked up from the note to observe the rest of the decorations Bart had made to improve the visual appeal of his room. He had painted the walls in a light blue and even painted a white stencil of a beetle in diagonal lines across every wall. The positioning was near perfect, so much so that it almost looked like professional wallpaper. Bart had also somehow managed to get a desk into Jaime’s room as well as a swivel chair. There was a short lamp conservatively placed on the edge of the desk. Jaime looked back down in front of him to look at the note and noticed behind the note that his duvet also had a new Persian blue case on it now instead of the old grey one.

“I bet you feel bad Jaime Reyes.” The sassy tone came from the scarab on his spine.

“Well of course I do!” Jaime snapped back as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I know. I can read your vitals.” Khaji Da clapped back.

It wasn’t fair. Khaji Da was punishing Jaime for having pushed Bart away. He was only trying to protect him from getting hurt again! Upon voicing these concerns, Khaji Da pointed out Bart is a superhero and that getting hurt is an occupational hazard of being a superhero.

“If you befriend the Bart Allen, you can look out for him. Protect him on future missions. Otherwise he is still bound to get injured or killed when you could have stopped it.” Khaji Da pointed out.

“I can’t protect the people I care about.” Jaime stated flatly sitting on the edge of the bed as he traced a finger through one of the large creases in the new duvet.

“I don’t think you care about the Bart Allen at all.” Khaji Da said succinctly.

“Yes I do!” Jaime argued loudly, turning in an effort to shoot Khaji Da a glare.

“Prove it. Be his friend and do your best to look out for his welfare. That’s what friends do.” Khaji Da challenged.

“Fine. I will!” Jaime shot up from the bed and just as he opened his door, he lingered a hand on the grain of the wood, “Wait a second… Khaji Da, did you just use reverse Psychology on me?” Jaime blinked in disbelief. He knew the answer but he had to hear it to believe it.

“Yes Jaime Reyes, I did. A scarab’s got to do, what a scarab’s got to do.”

Jaime’s eyelids flickered in utter disbelief. Just how advanced was Khaji Da supposed to get? If anything, it frightened Jaime a lot; both the advanced development of the AI’s abilities and its efforts to sound more human by dropping stolen quotes from television.

Jaime returned to Bart’s bed side and sat down in the chair beside him. Approximately ten minutes later Jaime heard Bart rustle on the white bed sheets. Jaime stood up and towered above Bart to see if he was waking up. Bart’s eyes opened slowly as he tried to gain his bearings.

“Jaime? Where am I? Am I in heaven?” Bart asked with a grin that slowly snuck onto his face.

Jaime’s eyes squinted as he glared back at Bart non-amused.

“You’re in the medical bay because you were stupid and took a hit for me!” Jaime said angrily.

Bart shrank down in his bed. He figured now that his actions had just gotten him into even more trouble with Jaime. It caused Bart to wonder whether Jaime would decide to go back to his future. Not that Bart knew if Jaime even had the technology required to perform such a feat. Booster Gold was the only one Bart knew of who had the ability to travel through time, but he rarely ever did, due to the severe consequences his trips had on the time stream.

“Why did you do that Bart?” Jaime shrilled angrily, his knuckles going white as he squeezed the life out of the bed side rails.

“Because you’re my best friend.” Bart said looking down tiredly at his hands gently tucked together in his lap. Bart was remaining remarkably calm despite the anger being thrown at him.

“I am?” Jaime questioned in surprise now discovering that he had at some point been promoted from ‘friend’ to ‘best friend’ despite having been nothing but rather cruel to the speedster.

“Of course!” Bart justified in his ‘doi’ tone.

Jaime looked deep into Bart’s eyes. He could tell, Bart wasn’t going to give up on him. Bart was going to continue pursuing his friendship regardless of how cold he was. Besides, he had now come to finding that he rather enjoyed seeing a smile on the speedster’s face, it filled his stomach with a warmth he had never really experienced before. And he wanted to see it again.

Jaime shook his head and let out a singular laugh of derisive disbelief (at the inherent speedster’s persistence) through a slightly ajar smile. He just couldn’t believe that Bart wanted to be his friend so desperately and that he was actually finally allowing someone into his life again. He bet this would likely end in heartbreak for him very quickly, but he was officially taking the leap of faith.

“Oh my god. Jaime. Are you… smiling?” Bart questioned eyes wide with glee.

“What? No! I’m not smiling!” Jaime babbled quickly as he forced his face into its regular frown.

“Oh my god I just made Jaime smile!” Bart exclaimed, “So Crash!” Bart shouted throwing his arms victoriously in the air.

“I did not smile.” Jaime stated calmly crossing his arms disapprovingly.

“You totally did! I saw it!” Bart defended pointing a finger at Jaime cheekily whilst resting the other hand on his hip.

“The Bart Allen is correct Jaime Reyes. You smiled.” Khaji Da chimed in.

“Shut up Khaji Da!” Jaime Reyes shouted in his mind feeling like the guy at the bottom of a dog pile of unwanted truth.

“Why don’t you smile more often Jaime? You totally should! You have a gorgeous smile!” Bart beamed whilst staring back with adoring eyes.

Ironically, the same thought ran through Jaime’s mind seeing Bart’s beautiful smile. However there was no way in hell he was going to tell Bart that he thought he had a beautiful smile. To Jaime’s dismay, his cheeks began to betray him as they began heating up to reveal a crimson tinge at the compliment he had just received.

“Oh my god you’re blushing Jaime! This is so adorable! I need a camera right now!” Bart shouted hoping someone would bring him one. He used his super speed to lean over and eagerly grab the nurse pager before smashing the button into an oblivion.

A few moments later, a nurse ran in concerned regarding the urgent summon and asked Bart what was wrong. She hadn’t seemed too impressed with his request for a camera and had decided not to fulfill it as she had other more pressing tasks to attend to. She stormed out angrily hoping that he wouldn’t page her again.

“Okay. That’s enough Bart.” Jaime said seriously, using his commanding stare feeling sorry for the nurse.

“But I mean it. You should smile more often. You have such a pretty smile!” Bart pleaded with him.

“Yeh yeh.” Jaime dismissed rolling his eyes, “How are you feeling anyway?”

“Fine now! Your smile cured me.” Bart grinned cheesily as if it were a miracle, before cracking up into laughter.

“Alright I’m leaving.” Jaime said bitterly as he turned and began walking away only to discover Bart was walking alongside him like he hadn’t just come out of a coma.

“So where are we going amigo?” Bart asked cheerily taking the chance to throw an arm around his taller friend’s shoulder.

Jaime ran a hand over his face as he let out an exasperated sigh.

X


	8. Running With Rushes

Jaime heard that tell tale knock, rap at his door. After months of becoming intimately familiar with the speedster and his habits, he knew it was Bart and didn’t even bother audibly inviting him in knowing he would open the door himself and slide in. Bart phased through the door having excited and nervous energy in abundance to spare. Jaime raised an eyebrow sensing something was different about the speedster’s behavior on this particular morning.

“Hey amigo!” Bart clapped his hands together cheerily as he teetered on both feet.

“What’s going on?” Jaime asked suspiciously staring at the speedster waiting for him to crack like a corn chip.

One second was all it took. “Well… I was wondering whether you’d like to come over to my house. Well not my house. It’s my grandparent’s house. But I live there on the side. And I mean it’s crash if you don’t want to. I swear I won’t be moded, but I just thought I’d ask.” Bart rambled, doing a surprisingly good job hiding the nerves he had bottled up. He at least sounded confident.

Jaime knew this was a big deal for Bart and that it would mean a lot to him. And there was something about those hopeful Jade eyes and his bottom lip that tucked itself away cutely in anticipation of his answer, that Jaime just could not refuse.

“Sure.” Jaime said unsurely as if he was still wrestling with the decision whilst answering.

“Crash! Don’t worry Jaime! I have some cool video games we can play! And heaps of snacks too! I promise you will have a good time!” Bart beamed excitedly. He jittered a bit on the spot before rocketing forward to give Jaime a hug. He valiantly fought off the urge as hard as he could, but ultimately, the impulse to hug was just too much. Jaime didn’t wrap his arms around the speedster in return but did lift his head up and rested it on Bart’s broad back for a moment. Just as Jaime began melting into the sweet, strawberry smell of shampoo that danced in front of his nostrils, Bart pulled away again knowing he had likely overstayed his welcome. Jaime had to blink a few times at the whiplash that breathing in boring, regular air through his nose again had given him.

Jaime found himself staring at the fruit scented hair. The speedster’s luscious, long locks always looked so fluffy regardless of how neat or tidy they were. Jaime just wanted to reach out and touch them and see if they were indeed as soft as they looked. Bart just had so much hair that he seemed to have a different variation of the same lazy hair style each time Jaime saw him. Jaime could understand why he didn’t bother styling his hair properly, running at super speed would just ruin the effort every time. And yet somehow, the messy, fall loose, windswept hairstyle really suited the speedster.

“Jaime? Are you alright?” Bart asked noticing he had been silently staring at him for a minute.

“Yeh. Fine. Was just thinking. About stuff.” Jaime said clearly distracted by his thoughts. “Well, are we going to your place or what?”

“Yes! Let’s do it!” Bart roared enthusiastically.

“Wait how are we getting there?” Jaime asked the curious question striking him like a lightning bolt.

Bart placed his hands on his hips to highlight his nice physique. One that he had been working on earlier that morning in the building’s gym; not to mention virtually every chance he had gotten as he was desperately hoping Jaime would notice the effort and maybe even mention being impressed by it in passing. That was probably a bit of a stretch Bart admitted to himself in his mind. Jaime was likely straight and couldn’t give a damn about how muscular he got. And he was; his hips, abs and a number of other masculine curves were all strongly contributing to his, hot enough to melt ice, physique. Bart had actually noticed a few glances his way as of late (none of which meant anything to him if they weren’t Jaime’s).

“I could run you there. If I carry you?” Bart offered confidently even though he was nervous as hell. He hadn’t ever held Jaime before. Not that intimately anyway. Bart had hugged Jaime, but that was different and most of the time completely innocent in nature. Carrying Jaime bridal style would mean cradling Jaime’s whole body in his arms and supporting him close to his chest. Close to his beating heart, the one thing that would give his feelings away if Jaime heard it hammering away at a million miles per hour. Bart did not want his feelings to be so readily discovered. But this opportunity was too great to risk passing up.

“You could give me the coordinates and I could just fly?” Jaime questioned showing some disregard for Bart’s unnecessary proposed method of transportation.

“But you are so slow!” Bart whined pressing his chest out as he complained to the heavens.

Jaime rolled his eyes. Silently screaming at Jaime was Bart’s solid musculature, and Bart certainly seemed to have a sturdy frame. “Okay. Fine.”

“Really?” Bart exclaimed restraining himself from scooping up Jaime as he double checked to make sure he had heard Jaime’s response correctly the first time.

“I guess. At least now I won’t have to listen to you whine about having to have waited a full ten minutes while I flew over there.” Jaime remarked sassily as he crossed his arms.

Bart couldn’t hold back his arms anymore. They were itching to hold Jaime and Bart just had to satisfy that itch. Bart beamed down proudly as he scooped Jaime up and found that he was able to manage Jaime’s weight without it being too strenuous on his back (something Jaime had been pondering in his own mind). The working out had certainly helped as Jaime was just a smidge taller and a little bit more muscular than Bart was, meaning he was heavier than the quick footed speedster. Jaime looked up at Bart wondering why he was still stalling.

“So is there anything I should know before you run me over to your place at the speed of light?” Jaime asked, concern pouring onto his face as he allowed himself to actually dwell on all the possibilities of things that could go wrong. What would happen if Bart tripped? Would he have to keep his mouth shut to avoid swallowing bugs? Was there such a thing as super speed sickness? Was he about to invent it?

“Oh shoot. I forgot to pull my visor down. Would you do that for me Jaime? I kind of have my hands full?” Bart grinned down at his best friend cradled in his arms. Bart took a moment to appreciate how adorable Jaime looked from this angle. Usually Jaime was just lava temperature hot, but for once he actually looked cute, which differed largely from hot.

Jaime shook his head and reached out to pull Bart’s transparent apricot colored visor down. Jaime’s fingers left slight smudge prints on the plastic exterior, but thankfully they were in places that didn’t impede upon Bart’s vision.

“You might want to put your arms around my neck too.” Bart grinned. He was loving this a little too much.

Jaime squinted at him untrustingly unsure of whether Bart was playing games with him for his own amusement; but Jaime complied after a moment of hesitation just in case he was serious. He felt like the biggest dork in the world. Jaime observed a glint run down the sides of both of Bart’s Jade irises. Jaime could have sworn he felt a rush of electricity run through Bart’s body where his hip met Bart’s stomach. Not that Jaime knew, but Bart was dangerously excited. He had enough excitement to single footed-ly power the world’s electrical needs for the next year and a half.

“Alright my bestest amigo, here we go!” Bart took a step back and Jaime’s breath hitched in his throat. And for that split second, time slowed down as he actually tightened his grip around Bart’s neck and clung closer to him in the fear of moving at light speed. Bart smiled down softly at Jaime in immediate response to the nerves he saw reflected in his cocoa eyes. And somehow in that moment, Jaime knew once he looked back into those reassuring Jade eyes, that everything would be alright. Bart arched his foot, disconnecting his heel from the floor as he then twisted his toes from side to side feeling the energy of the speed force as it surged through his entire body. And he was off.

Bart ran holding Jaime tightly to him as he ran dodging in and out of cars along the highways admiring as the chaotic world around him was no longer moving. Everything stood still. Time stood still. It was just him running and not only with Jaime, but with his trust. Bart smiled widely and bit his lip before screaming happily as he continued running, “This. Is. So. Crash!”

The specialized rubber soles of his sneakers came to a grinding skid along the asphalt of the Allen family home’s street. Bart came to a final stop in alignment with the front door to the old fashioned house. Bart was breathing heavily with exhaustion, but mostly exhilaration. Jaime had agreed to come chill-hang with him! And he had gotten to carry Jaime which had also been pretty dang crash! Bart was wearing the biggest smile Jaime had ever seen. Jaime was wearing a smile too. He had, much to his surprise, enjoyed the thrill that had been moving at light speed. It felt like that roller coaster ride you were terrified of, until you eventually worked up the nerve to go on it and then ironically wanted to ride it again. Jaime wanted to go on this ride again.

“Jaime! You’re smiling again!” Bart exclaimed, before backpedaling as quickly as he could, “I mean no you’re not! Don’t stop smiling please!” Bart frantically pleaded knowing Jaime was likely to stop smiling now that he had pointed it out, but all he wanted was for that gorgeous smile to stick around.

Jaime grinned but allowed the smile to remain as a thank you to Bart who had just given him the thrill of his life. “Are you going to put me down?” Jaime asked with the first sign of cheek Bart had ever heard from the Latino.

“Nope!” Bart smiled as he replied without hesitation, “I’m holding you in my arms forever.”

Bart felt the strongest urge compelling him to kiss Jaime. Even if he were to lightly and ‘jokingly’ scatter Jaime’s face with kisses. As a joke. Well, at least make it look that way to Jaime. He was faltering on whether to do it when Jaime suddenly swung his legs out of Bart’s arms and stood up himself. Bart pursed his lips as he mentally berated himself for having missed the opportunity despite the fact it would have likely ended in disaster, or worse, having seen the scarab in action during more of their recent training sessions over the weeks passed.

“So are we going to stand here and admire the outside of the house or are you going to show me the inside?” Jaime asked with a smirk. Bart couldn’t get enough of the new found cheekiness Jaime was radiating. Bart promptly opened the door and gestured for Jaime to walk in first.

“Latino’s first!” Bart joked as Jaime walked by, to which he rolled his eyes.

“So… This is the hallway and to the left is the living room, to the right, the kitchen, and up those stairs is my bedroom!” Bart explained quickly, his excitement having not worn off after the run. Khaji Da was able to translate the slightly too quick for human comprehension speed of chatter. Jaime was about to walk into the living room when he felt a hand gently slide into his and grab a hold of his own. A rush shot down Jaime’s body having felt Bart’s hand in his own. Jaime didn’t have any time to focus much on the overwhelming waves of knee-weakening sensations coursing throughout his entire body as Bart eagerly dragged him straight up the carpeted stairs and into his bedroom. Bart thought the living room and kitchen areas were relatively boring and hence didn’t need to be showcased. And besides, Jaime in his bedroom was the ultimate goal here; not debuting his grandparent’s antique plate collection in the living room from which Barry had collected an ornamental plate for Iris from each country in the world.

“Jaime Reyes. Your brain just released an alarming amount of oxytocin.” Khaji Da chirped away at his spine informing him of the biological explanation behind the feeling he had felt.

Jaime was about to ask what that actually was when he realized the pair were now in Bart’s bedroom with Bart desperately trying to get a hold of his attention.


	9. Bart's Room

“Wow. I was not expecting… wow…” Jaime’s head swiveled around slowly as he took the entirety of the room’s sights in; before resetting his head like a typewriter back to the left side of his body, before bobbing his head back up and down across to the right side again.

“So you like it?” Bart asked knowing full well his heart was on the line here.

“It’s pretty… crash.” Jaime finished off the long pause with the one word Bart couldn’t possibly be more relieved to hear.

Jaime was still shocked. There was no other word for it. Bart’s cream colored walls were barely visible as they were smothered by a plethora of colorful posters. The posters were of all different shapes and sizes, and pertained to the topics of athletics, science and even technology. Jaime wasn’t aware that Bart had an intellectual streak. It just contributed to the feeling that Bart always seemed to be surprising Jaime with something unexpected. After the journey of following the path of the posters from one side of the room to the other was over, Jaime tried to admire all the different ornaments Bart had splayed about the room. They were all resting neatly on his desk or in shelves, and the immaculate layout of the room blew Jaime’s breath away.

“I have to be honest, I wasn’t expecting your room to be this clean.” Jaime admitted.

Bart shot Jaime an irritated look that caused him to burst out into laughter. Bart immediately put his feelings of offense aside to marvel at the first proper laugh he had ever heard come from his best friend. Bart’s smile was wide with delight, as if he had just won the lottery. He was finally seeing a smile on Jaime’s face, and more than usual. It reminded him of that frown he had seen on Jaime’s face when they had first met, and how Bart had taken on the challenge in that very moment, to make it his mission to make Jaime smile more often. He seemed to be succeeding.

“Well, my grandparents are strict. They run a pretty tight ship around here.” Bart chuckled keeping his eyes firmly locked on Jaime’s perfect, white teeth.

“There’s so much stuff in here! I want to look at it all at once but I don’t even know where to begin!” Jaime said incredulously as he walked over to his desk and began observing the knick knacks. Jaime picked up a pair of binoculars before setting them down. He repeated this routine with other items such as a kaleidoscope, a slinky and a pair of silver, brass handcuffs.

“Handcuffs? Why do you have these?” Jaime ogled with a smirk, “Wait, actually don’t tell me!”

“It’s not like that!” Bart screeched defensively before snatching them back from Jaime much to his amusement. Bart placed the handcuffs back down on the table gently.

Jaime continued searching through all the various novelty items, his amusement only growing by the minute. The pair shared a few more hearty laughs over various items that Jaime poked fun at Bart for having, before they both decided to play some video games. Bart flopped on his bed halfheartedly and began fiddling around with the television and game console remotes. Much to Bart’s pleasure, Jaime laid down directly beside him but not close enough so that their sides were touching, so Bart rectified that. He wasn’t subtle about it either.

“Comfy?” Jaime asked rhetorically as he looked over to meet Bart’s eyes as their sides came into contact.

“I am now.” Bart grinned back cheesily.

Bart was quick to putting the video game on to distract Jaime from reading too deeply into his obvious flirtations. Sometimes he just couldn’t control his impulses. Hence his superhero name. The console sprang to life and began playing the kind of irritating video game music which you both hated and loved at the same time. It was a racing car game. Bart chose the red car and Jaime chose the blue one. The screen was then split in two, each of their cars on either side. Both of them held their breaths as the traffic lights went from red to orange.

“Are you ready to eat my dust!” Bart began trash-talking as the light was still on amber. Jaime rolled his eyes just as the light turned green giving him a slight disadvantage of a quick start.

The pair immediately began shaking the bed as they smashed their thumbs down with vigorous energy on the various buttons placed on the controllers. The bed shaking caused a sweet chorus of laughter to come from the pair. They were both really determined to win. A lot of cussing began to crop up as the tension grew during the rapidly approaching last lap of the race. Jaime actually crashed his car accidentally upon hearing Bart swear for the first time. He wasn’t aware Bart had had it in him. Bart truly was full of surprises.

Bart eventually ended up winning the race much to Jaime’s chagrin. 

“No puedo creer que hayas ganado!” Jaime pouted.

“Yes I know, I’m amazing!” Bart gushed over himself jokingly whilst gracing his chest with a hand as if he were royalty.

Jaime’s eyes went ablaze with playful annoyance, “You know that’s not what I said!” He suddenly grabbed Bart and pulled his head under his arm into a headlock before rubbing his hand brutally over his abundance of hair to mess it all up knowing it would annoy him. Bart broke out in desperate pleas for Jaime to stop which he struggled to get out through his musical laughter. But after a moment of thinking about it, Bart didn’t actually mind having his face pressed against Jaime’s muscular chest. Not to mention the fact that Jaime smelled really good. It was the deodorant he was wearing. Bart could have stayed there all day. Soon Bart’s pleas were empty and meaningless as he pretended like he wanted Jaime to stop with a hidden smirk.

Bart was suddenly surprised when Jaime slowed down with the hair ruffling. His hand was still moving around in Bart’s mass of hair, but it was carefully exploring the strands of hair now instead of trying to tangle them all up in to double knotted shoelaces.

“Jaime?” Bart questioned quietly as Jaime’s free hand roamed around sensually in his hair.

Jamie ignored Bart and continued threading his hand through Bart’s incredibly soft hair. Jaime had completely forgotten about his desire to touch Bart’s hair, and now he had inadvertently stumbled into the opportunity to find out how it felt. It... was... so... soft. Jaime’s fingers glided through the light brown hair like an eagle soaring through the high skies. Each strand was so soft, almost fragile, that Jaime was very delicate with his movements afraid he might break them. Jaime began to run both of his hands through Bart’s hair, the speedster’s head now falling the short distance to his lap after having been freed from the headlock. 

Bart hummed contently as Jaime’s delicate hands continued to thread through his hair. Jaime couldn’t tell if this was more pleasurable for Bart or for himself. Judging by the sounds Bart was making, he was enjoying it more. Bart crinkled the duvet and brought his knees up and curled them around Jaime’s criss crossed legs so that he was encompassing Jaime with his body. Jaime sat there quietly stimulating Bart’s scalp with his fingers as he absorbed the newly found body heat he was absorbing from the speedster.

It hadn’t taken long for Bart to succumb to the blissful urge to fall asleep. He was super comfortable in Jaime’s lap, and the head massage made falling asleep inevitable. Jaime looked down at Bart as he slept peacefully. The sight tugged at his heart strings. As if literally on cue, Khaji Da chirped at Jaime providing the musical sound.

“Are you alright Jaime Reyes?” The scarab inquired, sensing a surge of emotional activity in his brain.

“No.” Jaime bobbed his head sadly as he swallowed looking down with regret.

“What’s the problem?” Khaji Da asked with concern knowing where this would likely end up.

“Bart. I- I don’t want him to get hurt. And being associated with me is a death sentence. The Reach aren’t done with me yet.” Jaime wanted to cry but there was no way he was allowing a tear of his to plunge down onto Bart’s face therefore putting the speedster’s peaceful slumber at risk of interruption.

Jaime allowed the ominous truth to whirl around in his stomach. Deep down Jaime knew, the Reach wouldn’t give up. He had been their favorite project, and they had invested a lot of time and effort into observing and studying him. They were probably testing time machines right now to try and figure out away to return to the past to abduct him; and if Bart happened to be present when they did, well… it could be a repeat of what happened with his family. He shuddered.

“Jaime Reyes, the Bart Allen has superpowers, he can take care of himself.” Khaji Da pleaded.

“Oh really! Then explain to me why not that long ago I was standing over him in a hospital bed while he was in a coma!” Jaime snapped in his mind accidentally wobbling his thigh a bit causing Bart to stir. Jaime made a mental note to calm down for Bart’s sake.

“Jaime Reyes, I would not advise going where you’re thinking about going…” The scarab scolded, hoping the use of his whole name would somehow get him to reconsider.

“I’m doing this.” Jaime responded talking over his scarab.

Jaime gently lifted Bart’s head up and lowered it slowly on to the duvet as he slid himself out from underneath the speedster as quietly as a mouse in the night. Bart rustled a little bit on the quilt trying to get comfortable in Jaime’s absence. Jaime watched a drop in Bart’s expression, almost like whilst even asleep, Bart’s connection to Jaime was intrinsic and a part of Bart knew Jaime was leaving. It made Jaime feel guilt heavy in his chest like an anchor. But that wasn’t going to stop him from leaving.

“Suit up.” Jaime ordered Khaji Da who conformed with irritation. Sometimes Khaji Da still wished it had at least partial control over Jaime. However, the scarab did not voice the passing thought to Jaime knowing full well after their past together, it would mortify him.

Jaime walked over to the faded white, wooden slat window, unhooked the metal clip and slid it up. Jaime climbed out and slowly lowered the rickety window back down to avoid waking Bart up. Once the window clicked shut, Jaime leaped off the outside of the building and flew away.


	10. Back In Time

Bart awoke a short while later. His neck felt a bit stiff but that was the least of his concerns when he realized Jaime was no longer beside him. Fear started rising from the arches of both of his feet upwards.

“Jaime!” Bart called out hoping for a response, but he didn’t receive one. The fear had risen up to his knees now. Bart dashed around his room, looking out the window to see if Jaime was in the backyard stretching his legs. He then checked to see if Jaime was hiding in the closet or under his bed as some sort of stupid prank. The fear was waist high now.

“Jaime! Where are you!” Bart’s voice was raising in pitch. He had now checked the kitchen and was now in the living room, and there was still no sign of his best friend. He could feel the fear lining up with his collarbones now. He dashed through the front door, stopping out in the middle of the street where he couldn’t see Jaime as far as the eye could see. Bart was panicking and was almost hyperventilating at this point. Then he remembered he needed to stay calm, for all he knew, Jaime might have gotten a phone call from someone, his family maybe? Maybe he had an appointment he had forgotten about? Bart needed to use his head.

“Impulse to Premiere Building, please send me Blue Beetle’s coordinates.” Bart said calmly over the communication link. Technically, you weren’t supposed to request the locations of other superheroes for personal matters, only during team missions, but Bart considered this an emergency. He needed to know where Jaime was right now.

Bart breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the beep meaning the data had come through. However, that relief turned to confusion when he actually pulled up the coordinates. “He’s in El Paso?” Bart looked up thoughtfully into the wind for a moment.

Bart had absolutely no idea why Jaime would be in El Paso. Perhaps he was visiting his family? Bart wasn’t actually sure that’s where Jaime was from, they had never actually talked about it. But now was the time to find out. And with that, Bart wasted no time in running over there. It admittedly was an adventure for him, he had never run to El Paso before, so he took in the new sights and tried to remember the path as best he could in the likelihood this would become a new frequent destination of his.

Bart spotted Jaime straight away. He was sitting on a curb staring up at a big, white, neoclassical style house.

“Jaime!” Bart exclaimed as he zipped up to his friend, stopping in front of him and blocking his view of the house.

“Bart? What are you doing here? And how did you find me?” Jaime sniffed looking up at him.

“Not important. What are you doing here? I was worried sick when I woke up and you were gone! And wait- are you crying?” Bart gasped after a moment of intensely looking at Jaime’s eyes. Bart could tell he definitely had been. Bart nearly knocked Jaime over by dashing at him with super speed to give him a hug. Given that Jaime was sitting down on the curb with his legs laying across the road, Bart felt like it would be awkward to try and hug him from the side and took a chance. Bart sat right in Jaime’s lap and hugged him.

And this time, Jaime wrapped his arms around the speedster in return. Bart smiled knowingly on Jaime’s back. Bart ran his hands up and down the length of Jaime’s back reassuringly, stopping just short of Khaji Da’s location in his patterns. After a moment or two, Bart went to pull away but Jaime’s arms held him firmly in place. Bart was surprised, Jaime didn’t want him to leave the hug. Usually, Jaime wasn’t one for cuddling, but Bart was more than happy to stay in the embrace for longer and went back to rubbing soothing patterns on Jaime’s broad back. The two rejoiced in a newly found closeness, the pair had never been this close before.

“Jaime Reyes you are experiencing extreme arousal. Recommended tactic:-” Khaji Da began speaking before getting cut off.

“Okay Bart. That’s enough.” Jaime said softly as he leaned backward looking somewhat turbulent.

“Well can I still sit in your lap? It’s super comfortable!” Bart pleaded softly with the slightest hint of a blush across both of his adorable cheeks.

“Nope. On the curb.” Jaime patted the curb beside him with a grin.

“Naww…” Bart sulked as he rolled out of Jaime’s lap and sat on the curb beside him. He had actually been right before knowing it. Jaime’s lap was much more comfortable. He could feel the concrete curb against the bones in his butt cheeks. No matter how much he shifted he just couldn’t get comfortable. He gritted his teeth in the slight agony it was causing him.

“Anyway, what are you doing here?” Bart asked hoping that the conversation would distract him from the unforgiving concrete curb he was perched on.

“I- I’ve never told anyone about this. I’ve never actually had anyone to tell…” Jaime looked up at the house again. A melancholy expression washed over his face.

“Jaime you can tell me anything.” Bart placed a hand on Jaime’s which was resting on the curb, as he stared forward at the house. Jaime was looking up at the sturdy pillars either side of the front door that were supporting the patio, which gave him the strength to continue.

“In the future, this is where my family lived. Where I used to live. With them... Until they died.” Tears started welling in Jaime’s eyes again as he admired the baby-blue, painted, arches that traced the outlines of the windows from his height down to knee height.

“Jaime. I’m so sorry-” Bart began, as his body flooded with sorrow for his best friend.

“No.” Jaime cut him off as his eyes traced the sharp edges of the layered roofing. The steel framework underlying the brickwork had been done with such precision, forming a perfectly horizontally roof, Jaime needed to be straight with Bart. “They were all murdered.”

Bart gasped. He didn’t have any words. He blinked a few times feeling tears begin to well in his own eyes. He licked his lips which had gone dry, not due to the blazing sun that sizzled the pair as they sat on the curb, but due to his body’s reaction to the devastating news he was hearing. Bart felt devastated for Jaime, it meant he had nobody. He was all alone. Bart did still have some family left, but Jaime had literally nobody from his bloodline at all. Bart opted to squeeze Jaime’s hand to fill the silence as these depressing thoughts clutched at Bart’s heart making his chest hurt.

Jaime just continued looking at the house. His eyes took in the red sand that the wind was slowly sweeping across the front of the house. He always used to wonder as a kid how the sand never ran out. It always came from the East and blew off into the West, and the supply of sand seemed endless. The red sad reminded him of the blood, pooled on the floor inside of the house as he was dragged out by the Reach soldiers. “They died because of me. They were trying to protect me.” Jaime choked up and started crying aggressively now.

Bart was quick to hug Jaime from the side this time. Bart’s mind started racing. He needed to help Jaime. For starters, Bart gently swiveled Jaime around to face away from the house. He figured that looking at the reminder was not helping Jaime to feel any better. Bart crouched in front of Jaime on the sandy floor on the other side of the curb. He started rubbing soothing circles on Jaime’s back as he spoke up again.

“Jaime. Take a few deep breaths.” Bart instructed calmly. Jaime’s crying slowed as he did as the speedster advised.

Bart looked back at the house. Maybe Jaime needed to talk about them. Bart wasn’t sure if he had ever had the opportunity to grieve or work through the events of that awful day. If Jaime had that all bottled up on the inside, he needed to get it out. Bottled up grief was toxic, and the longer it stayed inside of Jaime, the more Bart knew it would corrode his soul. Nervously, unsure as to whether it would make things worse or not, Bart prompted Jaime, “Did you want to tell me about your family? And what happened?”

Jaime cast a sad glance to the darkened splotches of darker sand where his tears had been absorbed on the ground between his shoes. Jaime took one more deep breath before opening up.

“I had a mother, father and a younger sister. Their names were Bianca, Alberto and Milagro. Ma used to love maintaining the garden at the front of the house. She loved to cook for us too. Pa spent a lot of time in the garage working on his car. And Milagro used to spend all day playing with dolls. We argued a lot. But we loved each other.” Jaime looked over to see Bart was smiling supportively. And Jaime could tell he was still listening. It gave him the courage to continue.

“One day, two soldiers of the Reach, an evil organisation of aliens who created the scarab on my back, broke into our house and ordered me to come with them. I refused. That’s when they tried to take me by force. I fought as best as I could, but it wasn’t enough. Then my family each tried to stop the soldiers from taking me, I begged them to stay back, but they didn’t listen.” Jaime’s fists clenched in anger at the memory. If they had of listened to him, they’d still be alive. Why did they have to be so stubborn? Why did they have to care so much?

Bart observed Jaime’s muscles getting tighter as he allowed hatred for the Reach to start flowing through him again. Bart needed to do something again, to distract him from the destructive emotion he saw swelling inside of Jaime’s eyes as they creased angrily.

“Your scarab. I’ve never seen it before. I’ve seen the armor, but I’ve never actually seen the scarab. Do you mind if I have a proper look?” Bart asked his stomach wobbling like a blindfolded amateur tight rope walker. He felt like he was moments away from asking a question that would cause Jaime to shut down entirely.

Jaime pondered the request for the moment, “Sure.” Bart slowly lifted Jaime’s jumper and shirt up to reveal his bare back. Once the cotton shirt was high enough, Bart could see the royal blue scarab in all its glory. Bart let an amazed gasp escape from his lips. It was unexpectedly beautiful. The detailing on the outer shell was exquisite. Bart’s awe of the scarab was short lived once he noticed the legs of the scarab ruthlessly digging into Jaime’s back, tightly puncturing the skin. Bart cringed as he imagined what that the scarab’s legs must feel like constantly in his back.

“Does it hurt?” Bart asked gritting his teeth as he traced the bare skin near the legs not daring to touch the scarab.

“It did at first. But not anymore.” Jaime explained as his mind consciously followed Bart’s finger.

“Jaime Reyes. Tell the Bart Allen he can touch me if he wants.” Khaji Da offered.

“Why?” Jaime asked as he blinked away the residual tears in his eyes.

“I sense the Bart Allen feels uncomfortable about me hurting you. Perhaps by being inviting, the Bart Allen might trust me more. I want to establish a level of trust with him.” The scarab explained.

Jaime was really surprised by Khaji Da’s request but complied nonetheless. He would have been more amazed had he not been emotionally clouded in his mind.

“Bart. Scarab says you can touch it if you want.” Jaime offered as he looked over his shoulder at Bart to see his expression since he hadn’t yet looked to see how Bart was taking to Khaji Da. His body suddenly flooded with a newly found self consciousness once he realized this was actually happening. Bart was looking at the scarab on his back. He had never allowed anyone other than his family to do so. He really wanted Bart to be okay with it and not be disturbed by it.

“Are you sure?” Bart questioned as he hesitated and hovered his finger just above the outer shell.

“Positive.” Jaime smiled back for the first time since having come back to El Paso. Bart smiled back despite the obvious reservations that his eyebrows were still revealing in his facial expression.

Bart lowered his forefinger and gently pressed it against the cool metal surface of the scarab’s outer shell. It had to be the coolest item in the whole of El Paso Bart thought to himself as he tried to ignore the beads of sweat forming at the front of his hairline. Suddenly, Bart jumped back as he felt a vibration under his finger.

“Did I do something wrong?” Bart panicked as he recoiled standing on one leg with his other knee tucked defensively across his waist, with his arms clung to his body.

“No! It’s okay! Khaji Da was just saying hello.” Jaime chuckled. He had never seen Bart so unnerved before. He probably shouldn’t have found it funny and yet for some reason he had. But Jaime knew he had to make this right. He wanted Bart to accept Khaji Da.

“Oh. Sorry scarab.” Bart offered guiltily. “Wait, can the scarab hear me?” Bart asked with intrigue as he raised an eyebrow. Jaime was glad to see Bart relax his posture now.

“Yes. Also the scarab actually has a name. It’s name is Khaji Da.” Jaime smiled back at Bart which certainly seemed to put him at ease. Jaime knew Bart loved his smile. He never shut up about it. It certainly came in handy as a secret weapon. That, and massaging his hair.

“Really? That’s an… interesting name.” Bart chuckled. Bart realized he hadn’t actually complimented Khaji Da yet. Kicking himself, he immediately blurted out a compliment, “Well, I think Khaji Da is beautiful. The detailing on Khaji’s shell is amazing.”

Jaime started laughing lightly at Bart’s new nickname for his scarab. “Khaji huh? I like that. What do you think scarab?”

Khaji Da buzzed with approval before adding, “Tell the Bart Allen I also think he is beautiful.”

“I will not!” Jaime shrieked as his eyes grew wide with horror at the request.

“Tell him!” Khaji Da argued back. The pair continued to bicker for a minute.

Bart was taken aback when Jaime suddenly stood up. Bart was about to ask what was going on when Jaime turned around looking defeated. “So the scarab wants me to tell you that he also thinks you are…” Jaime coughed nervously before quietly murmuring the end of the sentence with his head tilted to the side, “beautiful.” Jaime’s cheeks were quick to redden like the petals of a rose, as his nerves bloomed in his stomach.

“Oh.” Bart peeped out surprised. Jaime allowed himself to feel worried for a split second until Bart spoke up again, “Not that I would agree with you at all, but thank you, I guess, Khaji.” Bart laughed awkwardly.

“What do you mean?” Jaime questioned offensively, his tone making Bart go kind of shy.

“Well… I’m not exactly beautiful am I?” Bart laughed like it was obvious as he pressed both of his spread out fingers against his chest.

“Like hell you aren’t!” Jaime furrowed his eyebrows to show his disapproval over the statement, “You are beautiful!” Jaime insisted.

“Jaime you don’t have to say that-” Bart said through laughter.

“I’m serious. When have you known me to ever tell a lie?” Jaime’s truthful statement sobered Bart up out of his laughter. Jaime continued, “You have amazing hair, your eyes are so pretty and your smile just makes my day every time I see it.”

“Thank you Jaime.” The three words were all Bart could manage as he was blushing and his heart was doing back-flips hearing his crush say all these wonderful things about him and it was really overwhelming for his brain.

Jaime slung an arm around Bart’s shoulders and moved close, “Well, I think I’m ready to go back home now. Are you free to take me?”

Without a moment’s notice Bart scooped Jaime up into his arms, “Always.” Bart smiled, his heart beating like he was running already.

“You’re… Y’know… Beautiful too.” Bart mumbled nervously down to the Latino in his arms hoping his blush wasn’t apparent. Jaime smirked and rolled his eyes disapprovingly.

“You are!” Bart shook him lightly in his arms to emphasize his point.

“No I’m not.” Jaime chuckled.

“Jaime I will drop you if you ever say that to me again.” Bart deadpanned.

“Okay! Okay!” Jaime retracted wondering whether the speedster actually would or not, as he willingly tossed his arms around Bart’s neck. Jaime was getting into the passenger routine.

“Good. Alright. Gentleman and scarab, please fasten your seat-belts we are about to take off.” Bart said in his best attempt at a comical, male flight attendant’s voice.

Jaime playfully whacked Bart’s back with the hand closest to him, “Just go!” Jaime chuckled.

And without Bart having shown Jaime the emergency exits, which he had fully intended to, he was now running at the same incredible speed for which Jaime found himself falling for the speedster, not a clue what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! This concludes Part A of Reversed! I hope you enjoyed the first ten chapters! Like I said earlier, Reversed is finished, however I am rewriting parts of Part C as I think they can be improved upon. As for the next ten chapters in Part B, if you'd like them soon, please let me know in the comments! But yes, PLEASE LEAVE ME COMMENTS! LET ME KNOW IF YOU LIKED PART A :) - I reply like, 99% of the time!


	11. Something Older, Something Met

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeh I've decided to post Part B, as always, if you want to make my day, leave a nice comment lol. I'm still not happy with Part C so who knows how long it will be until I post that. Hope you enjoy Part B though! Maybe people badgering me in the comments might help me I don't know, there's only one way to find out.

“What is up with Jaime? He never smiles! And he’s so serious!” Eduardo droned as the group listened intently to the teleporter. He was leaning over the counter-top in an exuberant, but ugly, jacket.

Bart stopped still in his tracks like a deer in the headlights as he heard Jaime’s name dropped in the Outsiders’ conversation. He had been strolling past the communal dining area via the corridor on his way back from the kitchen. He decided to tell them what for.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, guys. Gossiping isn’t crash!” Bart sterned, panning a shameful stare at each member of the group as he pulled an empty bar stool out from the waist height counter-top to sit on.

“Look who's jumping to Jaime’s defense!” Cassie leered as she stirred a teaspoon in a mug of coffee that she desperately needed after the ten hour stakeout mission she had just returned from. The mug had left circles of residue on the white, marble counter-top. 

“I’m just looking out for a friend Cass.” Bart shot her a look of annoyance. Usually Cassie wasn’t one to poke fun, but clearly the Outsiders were having a slow day. That’s usually when Bart noticed they resorted to gossiping. Bart tried to avoid them as much as possible when they were in that mood. Especially given he somehow seemed to be the one constant in all of the gossip conversations. He supposed being suspected as a closeted gay member of the team made him the juiciest topic to talk about. He didn’t care for the fact that being gay had to be something newsworthy. It did make him unique, and interesting. But Bart still didn’t like all the hullabaloo.

“I think somebody might have feelings for a bad-ass soldier from the future!” Virgil teased.

Bart scoffed and hoped the nerves were well hidden in his body language as he lied, “You really have no idea what you’re talking about.” Bart rolled his eyes hoping it would help sell his point. Bart froze as soon as he noticed Jaime enter the room knowing full well the challenge was about to increase ten fold.

Jaime’s stern expression immediately lit up into a smile upon seeing Bart. Jaime pulled out the chair beside Bart (even though there were plenty of other empty ones) and looked up with confusion when everybody around the table began snickering (except for Bart).

“What were you guys talking about?” Jaime asked, looking at Bart specifically for an answer.

“They were talking about you.” Bart said honestly, earning fierce looks of betrayal from everybody around the table having not appreciated being called out.

“Oh.” Jaime peeped out with disappointment. Jaime frowned as Khaji Da suggested a rather violent method of punishment for each of those present who had been bad mouthing him. Jaime supposed it was progress since he didn’t suggest evisceration, only bodily harm.

Garfield was quick to correct, “More or less about Bart though. And his giant crush on you.”

Jaime’s jaw fell open and he turned to look at Bart in disbelief. There was no way Bart loved him! Sure, he cared deeply for Jaime but as a best friend. He didn’t love him, surely.

“I never said that!” Bart defended an octave higher than usual as he pointed a finger wearily at Jaime warning him not to allow his thoughts to travel down that avenue.

“You guys are moded. I’m out of here.” Bart used his wrists on the counter-top to push his chair back whilst he was still sitting on it, creating a punishing sound for all those who had mocked him at the table, as the wooden chair legs scraped against the tiled floor. Everyone scrunched their shoulders as the unpleasant sound flooded their ear canals. Bart walked off looking upset.

“Bart wait!” Cassie called out, now that the nails on a blackboard sound had woken her up faster than the coffee had. The caffeine may not have had the chance to kick in yet, but the guilt was now. She hadn’t pushed the bar as far as some of the other guys, but she had contributed to teasing Bart and causing him to get upset. “Jaime can you go and check on Bart?”

“Si.” Jaime responded promptly, before getting up and quickly leaving the room.

Once Jaime had left the watering hole, Cassie pounced predatorily like a lion with ferocious anger. She pointed out to the guys that Bart never made fun of them, so they should extend him the same courtesy. Fun is fun, but people’s feelings can get hurt along the way. She also knew it wasn’t fun to be on the receiving end of the gossip train. And when she had thought about, Bart had been the only one not to drive her insane by nudging Tim every time the team had caught her staring at him (wanting him to catch her in the act). She’s amazed he still agreed to go out with her after they had highlighted how strong of a crush she had had on him.

Whilst the guys were still copping an earful, Jaime knocked strongly at Bart’s door. He waited a moment before entering the room having not received an invitation from Bart. It felt weird to enter without gaining that permission first, but Bart did it to him all the time.

“Bart?” Jaime questioned as he walked into the room. The light had been intentionally left switched off allowing Bart to reside in a lighting that reflected his mood, total darkness. Jaime flicked the light on and crossed the room before taking a seat beside the speedster who was laying on his bed.

“Is everything alright?” Jaime asked as he sat himself beside Bart, whose back was facing towards him.

“Totally crash.” Bart replied lamely. Jaime believed it was the first time he had ever heard Bart being sarcastic, or at least attempt it. Jaime took a moment to get distracted by the clear love Bart had for the color red, as shown in his decoration style. Jaime seldom spent time in Bart’s room at the Premiere Building. They usually hung out in his room. The current room was less orderly in comparison to his bedroom at the Allen’s house, but it still screamed Bart.

“You can tell me what’s wrong.” Jaime offered placing a hand on the speedsters foot.

“The team’s just being annoying. I’ll be fine. I just need some space from them. I might go and visit my grandparents or something.” Bart muffled into his pillow thoughtfully as he considered his options.

“How about I come with you?” Jaime offered enthusiastically. Jaime was tempted to ask if there was any truth to the squabble that had been made at the table but figured it best to leave it alone.

“That would be crash. But I kind of don’t feel like running. We could chill-hang here?” Bart offered hopefully, his voice already beginning to sound happier again.

Jaime could tell how much Bart needed the getaway, so he proposed another idea, “How about I fly you over to your grandparent’s house so you don’t have to run us there?”

Bart had never even thought about reversing their roles. Now he was excited. He was curious to know what it felt like to be the carry-ee, as opposed to the carry-er.

“Crash!” Bart smiled using his elbow to prop himself up on the bed. The pair raced one another up to the helicopter pad on the roof of the Premiere Building. Jaime suited up to his neck allowing him to fully enjoy a conversation with Bart without his mask in the way, as he picked the speedster up. Bart wasted no time wrapping his arms around Jaime’s sturdy neck.

“You’re unbelievable.” Jaime chuckled before activating Khaji Da’s jet-pack and flying off steadily into the sky. As tempted as Jaime had been to show off by flying in circles and other impressive patterns, he hadn’t wanted to risk upsetting Bart’s stomach and potentially cause him to vomit.

“Wow! This is so crash! You can see the whole city from here!” Bart gushed as he pointed down at all the Premiere Building’s skyscraper neighbors as they flew smoothly amongst them.

“Yeh! Flying might not be as fast as running. But it has its upsides.” Jaime grinned at Bart.

“I wonder if my grandparents will be home? You can finally meet them Jaime!” Bart exclaimed.

Jaime’s mind no longer concentrated on the sky in front of him as all he could do was cough up nervous laughter. Not that it had any reason to, but the thought of meeting Bart’s grandparents was making Jaime’s stomach seriously anxious. He really wanted to make a good impression on them. Khaji Da was confidently predicting how successful Jaime would be already and it wasn’t helping.

“Yeh…” Jaime murmured under his breath feeling grateful Bart hadn’t picked up on his nerves.

Jaime eventually lowered the pair in front of Bart’s bedroom window. It felt a little too obvious to land at the front of the house in full costume and just casually walk in through the front door; the back of the house was at least somewhat more discreet. They climbed through the window and Bart immediately dashed off downstairs leaving Jaime standing cluelessly in his room. Bart was back before Jaime could inhale any oxygen to combat his nerves.

“My grandparents are home! They’re in the kitchen making dinner! Come introduce yourself!” Without warning Bart grabbed Jaime’s hand and he was suddenly in the kitchen feeling shaken up like a Martini, having only seen microsecond long flashes of the stairs during the trip.

“Hello! You must be Jaime!” Barry said cheerily as he stuck out a hand to Jaime. A dazed Jaime managed to shake his hand rather firmly.

“Yes sir.” Jaime smiled back as friendly as he could manage.

Barry chuckled, “Just call me Barry.” Jaime nodded feeling the spatula of anxiety slowly slipping under the pancake that was his confidence.

“It’s nice to meet you Jaime!” Iris exclaimed as she gave Jaime a hug, “We’ve heard only good things about you!” She winked at Jaime and he forced an appropriate laugh despite that comment making him more nervous. Had Bart really been talking about him? What had he said? Khaji Da prompted Jaime to speak up as he was allowing the silence to grow too long.

“It’s really nice to meet you both. You both have a lovely house!” Jaime complimented in an overcompensating tone that he wasn’t even aware he had. Even Bart was stunned. Jaime was sure though that that would aid in his goal to make a solid impression with Bart’s caregivers.

“Thank you.” Iris smiled back sweetly. Jaime internally patted himself on the back.

“Tell us about yourself Jaime!” Barry asked pulling up a chair and taking a seat.

“I work with Bart on the team!” Jaime responded quickly before realizing he had no further defining traits, well, none he wished to reveal anyway. He laughed nervously, “Well this is embarrassing, I can’t think of anything else to tell you.”

Iris and Barry both laughed putting him at ease before Iris spoke up, “Well Jaime, do you have a partner?”

“No... I’m single.” Jaime shifted nervously as he became flustered under the new topic.

“Can I help with the food?” Jaime offered perhaps too eagerly, making his intentions of stopping them before they could ask him anymore uncomfortably personal questions a little transparent.

“Thanks Jaime, but I think I have it all taken care of. You and Bart run along and I’ll let you both know when it’s ready!” Both Barry and Iris smiled at Bart which he took as sign that they both approved of his best friend. Bart grabbed Jaime’s hand again and reminded him why he’s a speedster, as he practically made Jaime airborne whilst he tore up the staircase with Jaime trailing behind him like a balloon.

“No running in the house!” Barry shouted out after Bart having heard Jaime yelp as his life flashed in front of his eyes.

Iris chuckled, “Well Barry, I think we will be seeing a lot more of Jaime around here.” She smirked at him with a knowing grin.

“Yep!” Barry popped the last consonant of the word, “Bart is clearly smitten with Jaime.”

“I guess that confirms our theory.” Iris smiled back at her husband.

They had both assumed Bart was gay for the longest time. But the look in Bart’s eye as he had stared at Jaime desperately hoping for his grandparent’s approval had been unmistakable. Not to mention the look of pure anticipation and fear as he awaited Jaime to answer the question regarding his relationship status. Truthfully, Iris had cleverly wanted to gauge whether Bart and Jaime were already dating, but her question had served as evidence of Bart’s obvious feelings for Jaime instead; as well as revealing that they weren’t an item. The elder Allen’s had also noticed that Bart had entered the kitchen holding Jaime’s hand and left the kitchen holding it too.

“Yup. He’s the first speedster to ever put his Allen charms to work on a guy.” Barry chuckled, “I wonder if they’re working.” Barry rubbed the tops of his fingers against the base of his chin as he mused on the matter.

“Only time will tell.” Iris grinned as she stirred the pot of pasta in front of her.

Both of them hoped that Jaime and Bart would end up together as they could see just how much Bart fancied him. Neither of them wanted to see their grandson heartbroken over a guy he couldn’t have. They just had to cross their fingers for him. Neither of them had mentioned it, but they were both planning to leverage more information out of Jaime over dinner to help Bart out if they could. They just wanted to see their grandson happy.


	12. Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

All was still back up in Bart’s room. The two superheroes were sprawled on Bart’s bed together both star-fishing in silence. Bart was stuck dwelling on Jaime having mentioned he was single. Bart smiled dopily as it filled him with a little bit more hope knowing that Jaime was unattached. He may just have a shot, he hoped to himself. He didn’t know what Jaime’s sexual orientation was but he was not about to ask, he’d just have to think optimistically. Whilst Bart was simmering in these thoughts, Jaime was replaying Garfield’s comment about Bart having a gigantic crush on him in his mind, like a broken record. The more he thought about it the more it made sense.

“Jaime Reyes, you do realize the Bart Allen does have strong, romantic feelings for you.” Khaji Da said with an evident smear of exhaustion in its tone. Khaji Da had been sitting on this observation for months now, but knew revealing this bombshell of a secret to Jaime before he was ready would likely result in him pushing Bart away again. As was evident when Jaime reacted to first noticing his feelings for Bart by running away to El Paso and trying to use the pain brought about by remembering his lost family, to motivate him to push Bart further away as a means to keep him safe. But Khaji Da deemed this the perfect moment to enlighten Jaime to what he had been ridiculously oblivious to all along.

“What?” Jaime stiffened at the unexpected remark from the scarab.

“I’ve analysed countless interactions between you and the Bart Allen and he definitely has feelings for you. Very strong feelings.” Khaji Da emphasized on the strength of Bart’s feelings to hopefully make Jaime feel more confident in believing him. He was already half there.

“Are you sure?” Jaime asked anxiously. This was the first time Jaime was ever implicitly showing a romantic interest in Bart to Khaji Da. And it felt weird having this conversation only an arm’s reach away from Bart, despite it being in his mind. He knew Bart couldn’t hear what he or Khaji Da were saying, but it was still filled him with a nerve wracking sensation.

“Jaime Reyes. I can scan humans and reveal to you everything from the exact number of white blood cells in their bloodstream to the amount of days passed since their last shower. Ask me again if I’m sure.” The scarab spoke sassily. Jaime would have been annoyed if he hadn’t been so distracted by the conversation at hand.

Jaime believed Khaji Da. It was just so hard to accept. Bart loved  _ him _ . Jaime knew the speedster could do a lot better than himself. The fact that Khaji Da was essentially revealing Bart was gay was not at all surprising. Jaime had started to wonder a long time ago with the lack of concern for boundaries when it came to himself. It was more or less his own feelings that were surprising to him. Jaime had progressively began to develop feelings for the speedster himself. He found himself thinking about Bart all the time. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to act upon it; or talk about it with anybody. Not Bart, not Khaji Da, nobody.

“Jaime Reyes, you should ask the Bart Allen out on a date.” Khaji Da had wanted to yell the suggestion at him, as this slow tango with Jaime was very frustrating, but the scarab chose to exude patience and make the suggestion softly knowing full well pressuring Jaime would ruin any chances of him going ahead with it.

“I don’t think I can.” Jaime answered unsurely as he started biting his bottom lip nervously until the point where it hurt.

“Jaime Reyes. You’re scared. Your fear is preventing you from trying new things, exciting things, things that you could be experiencing right now. And you know that the Bart Allen will say yes! There’s nothing to be afraid of!” Khaji Da was pleading with Jaime at this point. The scarab just wanted what was best for its host, and pursuing Bart was in Jaime’s best interest. The recommended tactic, which Khaji Da kept to itself, was to get Jaime to confess his love.

Jaime felt like he had been slapped across the face with a reality check. Jaime allowed himself to consider all things he wanted to do with Bart on a daily basis from being able to kiss him to more. All those things he day dreamed about were only one question away, and he knew he would get a yes. He was just terrified of losing Bart. He had come so far as it was though. Jaime had already lowered his defenses and made an exception to allow Bart to become his best friend. What was one more little step?

Jaime faltered for a few moments as he rubbed the nape of his own neck before taking the plunge.

“Uhh Bart…” Jaime asked turning to look at the speedster instead of the ceiling fan he had just been watching spin around like his mind had been doing.

“Yeh?” Bart asked propping his head up with one elbow to make eye contact.

“I was wondering…” Jaime began before getting lost in the deep oceans that were his Jade irises.

“If you could take me back to my room right now! I’m feeling very sick!” Jaime blurted out panicking at the last second. The fan couldn’t repel the guilt looming over Jaime for not only having chickened out of asking him out, but for also asking Bart to run when he had already mentioned earlier that he hadn’t felt like it before leaving the tower. And like a Jenga tower that had fallen over, Khaji Da collapsed to the patience and began scolding Jaime for backing out.

“Yeh of course!” Bart jumped up off his bed and ran down stairs to notify his grandparents that he and Jaime would unfortunately be unable to stay for dinner. Bart returned a few of Jaime’s guilty paces around his room later. 

“My grandparents said they hope you’re feeling better soon!” Bart said sympathetically.

Now Jaime felt very bad. Bart scooped him up, and before Jaime knew it, he was lying on his bed tucked in under his blanket back at the Premiere Building.

“Bart!” Jaime’s voice broke in the immediacy he had needed to achieve to catch Bart’s attention before he ran off, which he could tell Bart was about to. Jaime hadn’t known it, but Bart was just going to quickly fetch a thermometer from the medical bay to check up on Jaime’s temperature.

“Yeh?” Bart asked as he span around with concern.

“I- I need to be honest about something…” Jaime looked down guiltily as he sat up.

“What is it?” Bart asked, fearing the worst when he caught a glimpse of fear in Jaime’s eyes.

“I don’t actually feel sick. Well I mean I do but not really.” Jaime babbled cryptically.

“I don’t understand?” Bart still looked concerned. He wasn’t used to seeing Jaime nervous.

“I felt anxious. I was really nervous to formally meet your grandparents. I just had to get out of there. I’m really sorry. I hope you’re not mad.” Jaime was only telling part of the truth, still a truth nonetheless. He felt as if a portion of the guilt bothering him had now at least been alleviated.

Bart breathed a sigh of relief, “That’s okay Jaime! I mean, you’re allowed to get nervous when meeting new people. I assure you though, my grandparents are both totally crash! You don’t have to worry about them!” Bart chuckled as a smile returned to his face, one Jaime melted at.

“Thanks Bart.” Jaime wrapped his hands around one another in his lap before continuing, “I’m actually kind of hungry. Did you want to grab a bite to eat? Y’know… have dinner with me?” Jaime asked not looking up at the speedster. He wasn’t sure if Bart would accept the offer after Jaime having just passed up on a perfectly good meal at his grandparent’s house. Bart was surely going to be offended.

Bart nearly died on the spot. Was this a date? Bart bit his lip to contain his excitement. He desperately, more than anything, wanted to ask if this was a date but decided not to risk it in case the answer was no. Because friends did hang out and have dinner sometimes, that was normal. This could have been a friendly, platonic chill-hang of a dinner. But it could have also been a date. Either way, what did it matter, Bart’s answer was going to be the same regardless. Bart was actually grateful things had turned out the way they had. Had it not been for Jaime’s anxiety, he might not have worked up the appetite to be asking Bart to a nice dinner out just the two of them, in the first place.

“Woah!” Jaime blurted as he realized he was suddenly in Bart’s arms again. He chuckled as he looked up with amusement bouncing in his eyes, “I’m taking that as a yes?”

“Doi!” Bart cooed affectionately, before running them to a local restaurant nearby. They could have just as easily have walked there. It was across the street from the ground floor of the Premiere Building; but Bart was getting attuned to being Jaime’s personal chauffeur. He felt something akin to gratitude when he had the chance to make Jaime’s life easier. He genuinely loved helping Jaime in any way that he could.

Bart dropped them off in a dark alley beside the building (out of sight). It was the kind of alley they usually found low life criminals hiding in, like the small fish that cowered beneath coral in the reefs of the deep ocean blue.

“We should probably walk from here otherwise people might be suspicious if we just appear at a table.” Bart justified. Jaime understood. He didn’t want Bart to blow his secret identity, not to mention his own.


	13. Meals, Money and Mixed Signals

Bart and Jaime walked into the bright restaurant together. The lighting was ferociously overdone and the decor was scattered upon every inch of the building to boot. The instant dozens of different conversations flooded their ears, they realized just how busy it was. Thankfully, there were a few booths left, which the bubbly waitress was kind enough to show Bart and Jaime to.

Jaime panicked not knowing whether he should slide into the booth next to Bart, or sit across from him. He decided to sit on the other side of the table. It would make talking to Bart much easier. The pair were quick to order and then Jaime thought he would try to get to know Bart a little bit better personally. Jaime knew generic, best friend things about Bart such as his favorite color, food, drink and more. But Jaime wanted to get to know the real Bart. There were some topics Jaime had never really pushed for information on before and Bart having never offered up on them, Jaime figured now would be the time to try. After all, they did have plenty of time to kill while they waited for the week’s worth of food (for a regular human being) that Bart had ordered for himself.

“So Bart. Tell me about your family.” Jaime asked as he rubbed his hands together under the table for warmth. He figured it was as good a place as any to begin. In most cases, people’s families were important to them so Jaime wanted to know about whatever it was that Bart cared about.

“Well… I live at my grandparent’s house sometimes when I feel like a break from the Premiere Building. But I haven’t been going over as much since I met you.” Bart continued talking to distract himself from blushing, “I still like to make an effort though to see my grandparents.”

Jaime nodded and smiled sheepishly at Bart’s middle comment, “What about your parents?”

Bart’s face dimmed, “They passed away when I was born.”

Jaime’s eyes went wide to reflect the mistake that had been asking that question. He leaned forwards awkwardly wondering what to do with hands that couldn’t reach Bart from across the table, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t know!” Jaime had regretted not sitting beside Bart because right now he wanted nothing more than to hug the speedster.

“It’s okay.” Bart shrugged, “I mean, I’m used to it. At least with me, I’ve never known anything different, but with you…” Bart trailed off looking down at the table apologetically.

“It’s not a competition Bart.” Jaime said softly, “Your pain is just as valid as mine, regardless of how it happened.” Jaime exhaled as he couldn’t take it anymore, “Come here you!” Jaime beckoned enthusiastically. He waved his hands twice towards his chest knowing Bart would get the gist. Bart’s jaw parted to reveal a big smile as he quickly scooched out from his side of the table and slid in beside Jaime.

“I’m sorry about your parents Bart.” Jaime said soothingly as he placed a consoling arm around Bart’s shoulders.

“Thanks. Is there anything else you wanted to know?” Bart said in a happier tone as he was more than ready to move on from the morose atmosphere they were both shrouded in. Also he was thrilled to have Jaime’s arm around him. At least to other people, they would have looked like a real couple, which filled Bart’s stomach with butterflies.

“What would be your dream job aside from… you know?” Jaime asked knowing Bart would get the memo.

“Maybe a scientist? I love science and I like helping people. So mixing those two together somehow.”

“Interesting…” Jaime hummed.

“What about you?” Bart’s eyes were wide with joy. He was clearly having a good time which was making Jaime ecstatic.

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve never really thought about it.” Jaime stated as he stared at the condiments sitting in between the napkin holder, and salt and pepper shakers.

“I think you’d make a good fireman.” Bart ventured his opinion freely.

“Why’s that?” Jaime asked baffled by his selection.

“You’re serious, discerning and care about helping people. Plus that body!” Bart chuckled as he watched Jaime’s cheeks heat up like the flames Bart was visualising firefighter Jaime put out.

“I’d buy that calendar, that’s for sure!” Bart continued to make Jaime’s cheeks redden.

“Ok! Moving on!” Jaime spoke loudly ensuring his desperation to move on to another topic came across.

“What’s your deepest secret?” Jaime grinned already knowing what it was but was curious to see what Bart would say.

Bart’s face began malfunctioning as he tried to imagine telling Jaime how he felt, “I mean I just basically came out as a gay to you, is that not enough?” Bart chuckled nervously.

“I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours.” Jaime edged confidently as he leaned closer.

Bart bit his lip as his heart started racing. Parts of his body fleeted with slight movement as he debated whether he just let it all out.

As Bart was about to spill, the waitress interrupted them as she was ready to deliver their food. Along with two other waitresses as there were too many plates to carry. The three staff members arranged the plates in a cluttered assortment on the table and all looked at Bart and Jaime with reserved judgement. If anything, they were probably worried Jaime and Bart weren’t going to pay for it all, Jaime thought to himself.

“To be continued I guess...” Jaime whispered to which all Bart could do was try to remain solidified, because right now he felt like was about to fall apart.

It took considerably much longer for Bart to down all the food at a regular eating speed. When finished, he helped Jaime stack the plates so that the waitress would more easily be able to clean up the table when she found a chance to do so. Jaime didn’t notice it for a few moments. But when he did it only took a moment to figure out what was happening.

Bart’s Jade irises highlighted the vastly expanded, black pupils staring back at Jaime. They were begging. Bart’s lips were curled ever slightly outwards to mimic a pout. He looked adorable, which was obviously his intention.

“Can we get dessert Jaime? Please?” Bart’s voice had even adjusted to match the beg of a facial expression he was wearing.

Jaime shook his head with a grin. Bart truly was something else. Bart nuzzled his head on Jaime’s shoulder as he looked up adoringly.

“I was going to get you dessert anyway!” Jaime chuckled incredulously, “Not that I’m _not_ enjoying this little show of yours.” At least Jaime had gotten the forewarning. He knew to watch out for Bart’s puppy dog pout face. But dang, it would take some serious obedience on his part, to not crumble and give in to the requests Bart was begging for whilst using that face.

“You’re the best amigo!” Bart continued to nuzzle his head into Jaime affectionately.

Hearing the word ‘amigo’ snapped Jaime back into focus. He had almost forgotten the entire reason they had come out tonight. He had a mission. He was going to carry it out before the night was through.

Bart kept bouncing his right leg up and down really quickly as he waited for his Oreo milkshake to arrive. Jaime had to place a hand on his leg to keep it still. Bart had melted like the pool of white ice cream at the bottom of his milkshake jar, upon Jaime resting his hand on his thigh. Bart eagerly grabbed the straw and sucked up the milkshake dangerously quickly, figuring he could get away with it since it was liquid and not food.

“Ahhh!!!” Bart sighed with satisfaction after having finished his drink.

Jaime was sorry to ruin the sweet atmosphere they were both enjoying. But he had one more thing looming on his mind. Khaji Da didn’t bother trying to talk Jaime out of explaining what he had to say. Jaime just had to be well and truly sure of one last thing before proceeding.

“Bart.” Jaime said quietly, before proceeding once he had attained the eye contact he desired, “I need to let you know. I did some things. Some very bad things, when I was on mode. I had no control over what I was doing when the Reach was in control of Khaji Da.” Jaime’s eyes were dim as he lightly skimmed over memories in his past, “I was soldier, they forced me to execute orders I never would have done if-” Jaime was interrupted by Bart.

“I know Jaime. I don’t think you’re some sort of…” Bart paused toying around with words in his mind, “monster. You had no control over your actions. It wasn’t you.” Bart reassured. “You’re a good guy! I know that! The team knows it! You care, you help people and that’s all  _ you _ have ever done. That’s why I’m your best friend!” Jaime felt Bart’s stare of approval boring into his own. They had spoken about it before, but Jaime didn’t think Bart had fully understood the sheer magnitude of the situation. He needed to reiterate one last time. Jaime went to open his mouth.

“Jaime. Please. You need to forgive yourself for everything you did in the past. It wasn’t  _ you _ . It never was. It was the Reach. They are the  _ only _ ones to blame.” Bart pleaded with Jaime softly before his tone changed as he continued, “And I’m not ever going to let them put you on mode again. They will have to get through  _ me _ first, before I ever let them hurt you again. And trust me, they will be sorry if they ever mess with you or me ever again.” Bart’s tone was as sharp as Jaime’s steak knife. Jaime could tell he meant every word. The intensity in Bart’s usually soft eyes was unsettling, but Jaime thought it was still sweet of Bart to proclaim that he would protect Jaime at all costs.

“Okay.” Jaime peeped out quietly with a smile. He had gotten his answer and he just had to run with it and hope for the best. Jaime was afraid if he brought it up one more time Bart would snap. Bart couldn’t have been anymore clearer that he was not bothered by Jaime’s past.

Luckily the pair were able to recover quickly from the heavy conversation they had just had when Bart cracked a terrible joke to put them both at ease. It wasn’t long until the pair were ready to leave and call it a night. Jaime shattered when the waitress said the total of the bill. He hadn’t been expecting it to be quite that high. He was about to pay for it when Bart stopped him.

“Jaime. I’ll pay for tonight. Besides you don’t exactly have any money.” Bart chuckled.

Bart wasn’t wrong. Jaime didn’t have much money at all. Superhero-ing rarely reaped monetary reward, and he had access to food, water and electricity for free whilst living in the Premiere Building so he was virtually set. Bart felt bad letting Jaime pay for him when Barry and Iris were quite well off and were used to paying bills this size (and usually larger). So Bart paid for it.

“Sorry.” Jaime offered feeling like a loser for having no money attached to his name.

“Don’t be! I had a great time tonight!” Bart exclaimed.

“Really?” Jaime questioned unsurely, pondering whether Bart was trying to spare his feelings.

“It was perfect Jaime.” Bart transitioned to sounding moonstruck.

“Come on. Let’s walk back home.” Jaime grinned as he nonchalantly slid his hand in Bart’s.

Bart managed to stifle the squeak of excitement that threatened to escape him at the casual way Jaime initiated a hand-hold with him.

Jaime chuckled when he could no longer see his reflection in Bart’s eyes as they were too clouded with excitement, “It’s cold outside. Thought this would help warm you up.” Jaime winked back at Bart.

Bart was feeling tortured now. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. He was getting mixed signals and it was driving him mad. He had to find out whether this was a date or not. He was being patient knowing that Jaime was actually really sensitive, not that anybody would ever guess it given his reputation, but Jaime was worth the patience. That being said, Bart knew he had to unburden himself soon before he exploded. He promised himself that the second they got back to their rooms, that he would ask. 


	14. Hot Under The Collar

It felt like the longest walk Bart had ever done. Bart had been super disappointed when Jaime let go of his hand before entering the Premiere Building, likely in an effort to ensure nobody on the team got the wrong idea. That didn’t shake Bart’s confidence though. He was going to ask Jaime whether that had been a date or not regardless. And if not, well… maybe Bart could do something about changing that. Jaime hadn’t shied away from any of his advances, nor voiced any concern upon coming out to him. Bart was convinced he still stood a slight chance.

Jaime opened the door to his room and invited Bart in. Bart figured Jaime was only inviting him because he was loitering around Jaime as if he had something to say. Little did Bart know Jaime was going to invite him anyway. Once Jaime clicked the door shut behind them and turned around he saw Bart sitting on the edge of his bed.

Jaime walked over and sat beside him and opened his mouth to speak before Bart got in first.

“Jaime. I- I have a question I need to ask you…” Bart asked nerves apparent in his tone.

“Sorry Bart. But I have a question I must ask you first.” Jaime had sounded so insistent Bart crumbled and let him go first.

“Go for it!” Bart chirped confidently relieved he would have a moment to build up his bravery to ask Jaime whether that just been a date or not.

“Puedo besarte por favor?” Jaime asked in a casual, nothing significant about it tone.

“Yeh I could go for another milkshake!” Bart chirped back happily with a cheeky chuckle.

“That’s not what that means Bart.” Jaime grinned shaking his head. Was Bart really still hungry? That speedster had an insatiable appetite. Jaime ignored it though, he was on a mission.

“I’ll ask again. Puedo besarte por favor?” Jaime began leaning closer to Bart. Close enough to get Bart’s heart to begin beating faster, but not close enough to short circuit his brain.

“Yeh I would support you getting a second job as a firefighter on the side.” Bart joked with a grin, insistent on playing his game.

“I’ll ask one more time. Puedo besarte por favor?” Jaime repeated his question a third time, raising the steaks of limiting it to the last chance for Bart to ask him what he meant instead of playing his silly game. But now Jaime whispered it seductively only an inch away from Bart’s face with a gaze so intense, that Bart’s heart was getting dangerously close to beating right out of his chest.

“Wha’- Wha’ does that mean?” Bart swallowed beginning to feel dizzy with desire.

Jaime grinned finally having gotten Bart to break from his childish game of ‘take a ridiculous guess at what Jaime said in Spanish’. 

“I said.” Jaime paused, now satisfied enough with having gotten Bart to crumble like a cookie, that he translated his question into English, “Can I kiss you?”

Bart’s eyes were already as wide as they could go having Jaime so close to his face, that all he could do was let his lip tremble. A speechless Bart only nodded as his eyes flicked down from Jaime’s seductive, chocolate irises down to his impossibly perfect lips. Even though Jaime had asked Bart if he could kiss him, Bart just couldn’t wait. He knew the one second that it would take for Jaime to press his lips against his own would feel like an eternity; so Bart took control of time itself and eagerly rushed his lips forward to meet his destiny.

Before they knew it their lips were locked together passionately. They both hummed into the kiss. It was warm and soft. Their lips were light and longing, whilst their hearts were heavy with emotion. And just like that, they decided to reverse it. They poured all their emotions into the kiss making the soft kiss a heavier one, to relieve the affection they had been harboring towards one another for the longest time.

Both of them were breathing heavily and panting as they pulled away. They had both wanted to do this for so long. And now the moment had finally arrived, and it was better than they had both imagined it. Way better. They were even able to share in the residual sweetness that Bart’s Oreo milkshake had left in his mouth, intensifying the sensation of kissing a hundred times over.

“Does this mean, you like me?” Bart asked clearly dazed on the drug that was Jaime’s love.

“Doi!” Jaime mocked in his best Bart impression, giving him a taste of his medicine. Jaime followed that up with a brief chuckled before shaking his head, “Would you like to be… my boyfriend?” Jaime managed to ask despite having nerves larger than the Premiere Building itself. His nerves were equally as foolish as the question Bart had just asked prior. But Jaime had never been in a romantic relationship before. This was his first one. So there was still a slight slither of doubt in his mind.

“Doi.” Bart whispered with a grin (knowing it was much better when he said it) as his half lidded eyes seductively stared back at Jaime’s lips. It was so obvious to Jaime that there was literally nowhere else in the world that Bart’s lips wanted to be, other than on his own lips. Bart had a new found addiction. One that Jaime didn’t actually mind encouraging. Bart was an amazing kisser. Jaime’s lips were also desperate to dive back into the action. Especially now that Jaime could finally relax knowing he had no need to be afraid, Bart was genuinely interested. He’d might even go as far to say as, extremely interested. And the feeling was mutual.

Before they knew it, their lips were crashing against each other again, twisting and turning as tongues became involved. Jaime stumbled backwards into the wall with Bart who had jumped onto him in the heat of the moment and wrapped his legs sturdily around Jaime’s waist. The pair clashed the wall with a loud thud. Both of them were grateful it was only Bart’s room beside them, otherwise if had of been anyone else, they would have been prompted to investigate.

Jaime’s hands found Bart’s cinnamon colored in this lighting, hair. And when Jaime’s fingertips reached the edges of Bart’s forest of hair, he knew he was a goner. Bart moaned as Jaime began rubbing his hands through Bart’s hair never disconnecting their lips for a second. Bart’s hands which had been rubbing Jaime’s back fell to the side as his mind was now experiencing what felt like explosions of pleasure in every cell in his brain. He just couldn’t concentrate on anything except kissing. The amount of pleasure coursing through his veins was lethal.

“Jaime.” Bart groaned as he managed to pull his head away before he flat-lined.

Bart noticed Jaime was wearing the widest grin knowing full well the hair massage was Bart’s biggest weak spot. Bart shook his head with a grin and decided to distract Jaime before he destroyed Bart. Bart grabbed Jaime’s shirt from either side of his hips and ripped it off over his head so quickly he couldn’t help but laugh. Bart chuckled a bit too before leaning down again to reconnect their lips. 

Jaime, whose eyes were closed due to the overwhelming pleasure surging through him, had to guess where the bed was located as he messily stumbled forward until the pair flopped down onto it, once Jaime’s knee caps had discovered the mattress. They both laughed as they recovered from the bounce that had startled them both when Jaime had blindly sent them tumbling down onto one another. They were quick to regain their composure.

Bart’s lips then went on a little adventure, roaming from the sides of Jaime’s neck (which served as hot spot as if the moans were of any indication), before working their way down to Jaime’s chiseled chest. As Bart kissed downwards, Jaime shuddered underneath him as his long, wavy locks of hair slowly dragged along his chest tickling him. As Bart reached his belt, Jaime took advantage of Bart leaning over horizontally and pinched the collar of his shirt, before pulling it off over his head and tossing it aside.

“Wow.” Jaime whispered as he stared at Bart’s perfect abs, “You could be a fireman too.”

Bart’s smirked lips pounced back onto Jaime’s at the compliment. It wasn’t long before Bart undid Jaime’s belt and pulled off his pants before tossing them both to the floor. Jaime heard the belt buckle clink happily as it hit the ground. Bart started running his warm hands up the length of Jaime’s thighs and just as his fingertips brushed the base of his underwear he started rubbing back down again.

“Seriously Bart!” Jaime whined lifting his head up from the pillow it was inverted in, “You chose now as the first time ever in your life  _ NOT _ to be impulsive!” Jaime stared back with incredulous and let down eyes.

Bart chuckled mischievously as he placed an apologetic kiss on Jaime’s disappointed lips. He was disappointed for about 0.01 seconds after that until Bart’s lips were no longer on his own.


	15. Dragging His Feet

Jaime had just discovered his new favorite kind of hair style on Bart. Bed hair. Jaime thought Bart’s windswept hair drove him crazy, but there was something so incredibly sexy about Bart’s bed hair. He was gently twirling his fingers loosely in the tawny strands of hair on Bart’s nape. His eyes traveled down to the Jade eyes filled with a smokey lust. And the smile that said Bart had finally received the greatest gift on the face of the Earth. Being with Jaime.

Bart was laying on top of Jaime, them both still completely naked under the covers. The heat between their two bodies reminded them they were in constant contact, and that they both loved each other and had just proven it. They had both crossed a line. One they both knew they would be camping on the other side of regularly. They had both never experienced such intense physical pleasure in their lives.

Bart lowered his head on Jaime’s chest and hummed.

“Te amo Bart.” Jaime whispered before craning his neck up to kiss the speedster’s forehead.

“I love you too Jaime.” Jaime felt Bart’s cheek scrunch up on his bare chest as the speedster smiled sweetly. It was the first time he had ever said the words to Jaime. And it felt great. Nothing else mattered. Bart had Jaime. The world had melted away, and all that was left was him and Jaime in this warm bed, sparks of their rampant passion and love for one another flickering away like a flame that they both knew would never go out.

Bart suddenly noticed a surprised gasp come from Jaime’s mouth, “What is it?” Bart inquired.

“I just said ‘te amo’ and you understood me. You do know some Spanish!” Jaime looked back at Bart with bewilderment.

“I may know a  _ little _ bit of Spanish.” Bart conceded returning a smirk.

Jaime broke out in laughter with Bart, their chests rising and falling in perfect synchronization.

Jaime exhaled before looking up at Bart seriously, “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

Bart cupped Jaime’s jaw to get him to concentrate as he had cast his glance aside to think of all the things he had done wrong in his life. Bart wasn’t about to let Jaime began hating on himself yet again.

“Jaime. You’re a good person. That’s why I love you.” Bart whispered against Jaime’s lips before kissing him to reinforce his point.

“Gracias.” Jaime chuckled as Bart melodramatically moaned listening to his accent to highlight how much he loved hearing it.

“Keep talking in Spanish and we’re never going to leave this bed!” Bart said earnestly.

“I may just have to take you up on that.” Jaime offered cheekily.

“Please do.” Bart smirked.

“I hate to say it but we probably should go grab a bite to eat.” Jaime had to be strong enough for the both of them.

“I’m not hungry.” Bart said dismissively.

“Come on Bart.” Jaime chuckled, “We can do this again soon.” Jaime promised.

“How soon? Straight after eating?” Bart’s eyes were wide with hope. Jaime chuckled at the speedsters other insatiable appetite that he had now discovered.

“We’ll see. Come on mi velocisto.” Jaime began sitting up, Bart still in his lap, as the bed creaked beneath them.

“What did you just call me?” Bart smirked, eyes scattered with intrigue. Bart’s arms were still wrapped around Jaime’s neck, and he wasn’t releasing the man until he had his answer.

“Oh. Just a pet name. It’s the closest translation to ‘my speedster’. It means ‘my sprinter’.” Jaime explained, “Why? Do you not like it?”

“I think it’s cute.” Bart chuckled, “But I think I would prefer something more like mi amor.”

“Mi amor it is then, mi amor.” Jaime purred in his thick accent. Bart exhaled happily hearing it.

The pair got dressed and just as Jaime was about to walk out of the room holding Bart’s hand, the speedster halted.

“Umm Jaime. Are you alright if we keep this a secret for now? I want to tell my grandparents first before we tell the team.” Bart couldn’t even look Jaime in the eyes he felt so guilty. Last night he had been willing to throw caution to the wind, but this morning he was thinking a bit more clearly.

Bart was relieved when Jaime raised his chin up with a finger revealing an understanding gaze and smiling Jaime, “Of course mi amor.” Jaime placed a quick kiss on Bart’s lips to assure Bart there were no hard feelings.

They strolled down to gossip central and both took seats next to one another. The team remained much more well behaved under the stern, discerning watch of Cassie. Bart was pleasantly surprised, but he was not about to complain about being able to dine in a convivial atmosphere. It was admittedly hard for the pair to keep their hands off one another, let alone not glance at one another longingly. Bart excused himself when his mobile phone began to ring.

“Hey Bart! How’s my favorite grandson doing!” Barry belted cheerily from his end of the phone.

“I’m really crash.” Bart chuckled dreamily as he thought about last night before coughing seriously and sobering up, “Totally crash. What about you? Everything alright?”

“Yeh! Iris and I were hoping if Jaime was feeling better, that we could all have dinner sometime!”

“That would be super crash. I’ll ask Jaime how he’s feeling and call you back!” Bart promised.

“How I’m feeling about what?” Jaime asked leaning against Bart’s door frame with a smirk.

“Jaime!” Bart squeaked, “I uhh… That was Barry. He wants to know if you’re free for dinner. Y’know, since last time you kinda bailed, and they were really looking forward to it. But I don’t want to pressure you or anything! I know you feel kind of anxious around them and-” Bart’s lips were silenced by the same pair of lips he had spent all of last night exploring. He could identify those lips blindfolded. And he hadn’t been looking as he rambled nervously so the kiss had come as a surprise.

“Relax carino.” Jaime breathed as he pulled away. He rubbed Bart’s shoulders reassuringly. “I’m more than happy to have dinner with your grandparents. I just hope they like me.” Jaime offered up nervously.

“Of course they will! Jaime, who couldn’t like you?” Bart ogled before smiling back sweetly.

“The majority of the team?” Jaime chuckled with his arms folded self righteously over his chest.

“It’s their loss. And besides, I like having you all to myself.” Bart gently guided the back of Jaime’s head with his hand downwards so that their lips could meet again. The pair were forced to breathe through their noses as the kiss got much more full on then they were expecting.

“Don’t you need to call back and let them know I’m coming?” Jaime panted.

“It can wait!” Bart dismissed before pulling Jaime down aggressively on top of him onto his bed.

Just as they were getting into the mood, the pair froze when they heard a knock at the door. Both of their eyes were wide with panic. Neither of them knew what to do.

“Bart? Are you in there?” Cassie called out impatiently through the door.

“It’s Cassie!” Bart hissed, “Babe, just stay under the covers!” Bart whispered as he buried Jaime in the duvet. Jaime was snickering under the cherry red covers matching Bart’s cheeks.

Bart quickly pulled the door open, “Hi Cassie! Sorry about that. I was uhh doing some push ups.” Bart grinned sheepishly.

“Okay…” Cassie side eyed for a moment before continuing, “I just wanted to talk to you about Jaime.”

Bart stiffened. He didn’t know what this was in relation to, and perhaps it was best that Jaime didn’t hear it.

“Can it wait?” Bart pleaded as he knew Jaime could hear every word of this conversation.

Cassie rolled her eyes, “Look, it will only take a moment.” Cassie barged past Bart, charging into the room knowing that Bart wouldn’t want anyone overhearing this in the hallway.

“Look. I know you like Jaime.” Bart went to open his mouth but she cut him off immediately, “Don’t even try to deny it! And it’s ok. I don’t judge, but, I think you should tell him how you feel. I think you might have a shot with him. I was watching him look at you just now, and I think he might like you too.” Cassie smiled supportively before using a finger to brush her hair back over her shoulder.

“Uhh thanks Cass. I’ll think about it! But for now, I want to get back to my push ups!” Bart zipped behind her and ushered her out of his room, “Thanks for stopping by!”

Cassie stood stunned in the hall alarmed by the lack of care Bart had shown regarding the conversation. She shook her head in confusion and walked away in pursuit of Tim. Bart leaned against the back of his door exhaling in relief. Jaime stuck his head out from underneath the blanket of concealment and began chuckling.

“Push ups?” Jaime mocked Bart’s choice in cover story.

“It’s plausible!” Bart defended indignantly, “Anyway, I believe we were about to work out?” Bart grinned at the terrible joke that caused Jaime to groan in disdain.

“I think the moment has passed mi amor.” Jaime regrettably informed.

“Ugh!” Bart groaned, “So moded!” Bart was trying his best not to resent Cassie for interrupting.

Bart decided to do as he had promised and called Barry and Iris back to let them know Jaime was feeling better. His grandparents were delighted by the news and opted for dinner the very next evening.


	16. A Picture Paints A Memory

Jaime pressed down the doorbell to the Allen family home, feeling his stomach lurch inwards as he did so. This was really about to happen. He and Bart had planned on telling his grandparents that they were now boyfriends. Jaime was worried how they would react to the news. But he was most worried about how they would feel about  _ him _ in particular. He wanted Bart’s family to love and accept him, and support his and Bart’s relationship at every step of the way. It was hard enough for Jaime to like himself, let alone imagine Bart’s grandparents liking him. What would they think of him if they found out about his past? Jaime hoped Bart had no intention of mentioning it.

Jaime nervously ran a sweaty palm over the length of his short cropped, coal black hair. He began fidgeting with his matching colored tie, when he was forced to awkwardly throw his hand forward for a handshake when Barry unexpectedly opened the door. As a speedster, Barry had likely seen Jaime nervously making those last minute changes to his tie, but he couldn’t become engrossed on that embarrassing matter. Everyone did it.

Barry crushed Jaime’s hand in between them as he surprised Jaime with a hug, “Sorry Jaime, we’re huggers!” Barry chuckled over Jaime’s shoulder sensing Jaime tense with shock.

A skid of socks against the floorboards signified the arrival of his boyfriend at the door, “Gramps! Don’t break my boy-, best friend!” Bart’s brain managed to clamor to a somewhat smooth landing with the near slip up. If Jaime’s eyes were of any indication, that had been a rather close call. Luckily Barry wasn’t facing Bart to see the sheepish, apologetic grin occupying his face.

“Hi Jaime!” Iris smiled sweetly walking out from behind Bart to hug him, “Come on in!”

“Would you like me to take my shoes off?” Jaime asked as the four of them loitered in the hallway ahead of the kitchen and living room.

“Whatever you feel more comfortable doing Jaime!” Barry waved a hand to demonstrate how relaxed the rules of the house were. Bart looked puzzled. He knew they usually weren’t ones to be quite so relaxed. Maybe it was just when it came to Bart? Maybe they were trying to make a good impression on Jaime?

“Oh Jaime, I forgot to mention, you look very handsome this evening!” Iris complimented.

“Seconded.” Bart blurted out before he could think about it. His hands slapped up to cover his mouth much to Barry’s amusement. Bart started acting coyly. He was dying to tell the world he was dating Jaime anyway so he decided to just go for it. Bart zipped over to Jaime’s side and held his hand.

“Barry. Iris. Jaime and I are boyfriends!” Bart exclaimed. His chest rested a little further forward than usual to account for the nerves brewing inside him as he essentially came out and revealed he was dating Jaime, both at the same time. Talk about a double bombshell. Jaime noticed Bart was also standing ahead of Jaime as if to protect him should his grandparents react poorly to the news. Jaime thought it was rather sweet. Admittedly, Jaime had hoped they’d at least make it to the dinner table before Bart spilled the beans, but Jaime had to face the fact that this was Bart he was talking about. Bart looked forward at his grandparents with a mixture of premature anger (should they be mad), excitement and nervousness in his eyes.

Barry and Iris looked stunned. They shared a glance before laughing knowingly. Their whole evening had been planned around trying to help their grandson land Jaime, and it turned out the whole night’s inhibitions had been shattered, not that they minded at all. They were both thrilled.

“Congratulations Bart.” Iris chuckled.

“Good for you kid!” Barry beamed.

“So you guys don’t mind?” Bart questioned in shock, trying to let their positive reaction sink in.

“Bart if you thought we’d ever be anything but proud of you, than you’re an idiot.” Iris broke the blunt statement with as much affection as she could, “Give us a hug!”

Bart turned to show Jaime his relieved smile, which Jaime had immediately been blown away by the gorgeousness of it, before Bart turned again to run and hug both Barry and Iris, one in each arm.

Barry cleared his throat, “Jaime? You’re basically family know! Get on in here!”

“Oh.” Jaime chuckled before walking over to join the group hug.

“We’re really happy for you both!” Barry assured them, “Now go take a seat in the living room! We’ll bring out dinner in a minute.”

Bart now excitedly jumped on to Jaime to hug him exclusively, “They’re okay with me dating you Jaime!”

“Haha I know carino. I’m really happy for you.” Jaime snuck in a quick kiss on Bart’s lips since his grandparents had walked into the kitchen. He didn’t feel brazen enough to kiss Bart in front of Barry and Iris, but so long as they weren’t watching, it wasn’t an issue.

Bart grabbed Jaime’s hand and lead him into the living room. Jaime hadn’t yet been in this room of the house. Naturally, his eyes darted around the room as he analysed its contents, such as the furniture, lights and decor. Jaime’s eyes danced around the room until settling on the mantel above the fireplace behind the dinner table.

“Where do you want to sit?” Bart asked, the giant smile still having not abandoned his face.

After a few moments of silence Bart had to ask again, “Jaime?”

Jaime was still facing the mantel but wasn’t responding, “Jaime? What’s wrong?” Bart asked immediately sensing something was up as Jaime’s shoulders slackened.

“It’s him.” Jaime said slowly lost in a whirlwind of thought.

Bart ran to his side looking at the photo Jaime’s eyes couldn’t be ripped away from.

“It’s who? What is it? Jaime talk to me!” The spike of fear in Bart’s tone brought Jaime back to reality.

“The man in this photo. He’s the one who saved me from the Reach.”

Bart laughed insensibly, “That’s impossible.”

“Khaji Da, is this the man?” Jaime asked unable to move out of pure shock.

“Facial recognition confirms he is a 100% match to the man who saved us.” Khaji Da informed.

“Bart. This  _ is _ the man who saved me. Khaji Da confirmed it.” Jaime now swiveled his neck slowly to look at Bart pressingly.

“But… that’s my father.” Bart peeped out his chest filling with an inhale of disbelief.

“What?” Jaime gasped, “I thought he died when you were born?” Jaime’s voice was only a whisper now.

“He did. Or at least… that’s what I was told…” Bart swallowed thickly.

Bart and Jaime both span around in perfect synchronization to the sound of a ceramic plate shattering on the floor to see an emotionally wrought Iris and Barry. The shards of the plate had scattered all about the room creating a minefield on the floor.

“Barry? Iris? What’s going on?” Bart asked, his breathing raising to such an alarming rate Khaji Da immediately pointed it out to Jaime for urgent attention. But Jaime was too frozen in shock as he watched the events of this mystery unfold.

“Bart.” Iris started, as Barry rested a caring hand on her shoulder, looking as if he needed one on his as well.

A tear rolled down her cheek and she looked up at Barry for support, she couldn’t do it. Barry nodded, he knew he needed to be the one to do it on their behalf, “We have something to tell you.” 

Bart turned speechlessly to look at Jaime. Jaime felt his stomach lurch seeing the conglomerate of hurt, horror and heartbreak in his boyfriend’s eyes. What secret had he just accidentally unearthed?


	17. Admissions

Barry was the first to break the silence occupying the room, “Jaime, you need to leave.”

Jaime’s stomach sank like an anchor into the depths of his body. Jaime felt physically ill. What was supposed to have been a magical night of bonding had just become something worse, a lot worse. Jaime knew Bart was about to receive some Earth shattering news. News that Barry and Iris had been keeping a secret from Bart, and had clearly been complacent with keeping; that was until Jaime had just dragged it out into the light and revealed to Bart that his grandparents might not be as trustworthy as he previously thought. Likely an act, that would tarnish if not entirely destroy the positive relationship he had constructed with both of Bart’s grandparents. Immediately, the fear of being banned or forbidden to date Bart bled into his mind.

“What! No!” Bart broke out of his silence angrily grabbing Bart’s hand, “Whatever you want to say to me, you can say it in front of both of us!”

“Jaime, please leave.” Barry repeated, sounding more serious than he had the first time he had requested Jaime to make himself scarce.

Bart tightened his grip on Jaime’s hand and turned to him for a moment to point his free finger at him, “Don’t you dare leave my side.”

Jaime felt sick. He was torn between whether he respected the wishes of Bart’s grandparents or Bart. If he adhered to Barry’s request, that would likely make salvaging the broken pieces of their relationship, as represented by the shards of glass all over the floor, a lot easier. But if he left against Bart’s request, his boyfriend would likely never forgive him for it. Not to mention Bart was angry, an emotion Jaime had never, ever, seen in Bart. It was actually rather terrifying. And Jaime didn’t think he would be standing upright for much longer trying to balance all these ugly emotions and choices, so he was hoping this argument would resolve itself, and quickly.

“He’s staying here to support me.” Bart gritted his teeth, “It sounds like you’ve got some explaining to do. You two have each other and I have Jaime. That only seems fair to me.” Bart glared aggressively as he justified his position on the matter.

Barry pondered Bart’s comment. Iris and Jaime looked at each wondering which of their partners would give in first. It was two teams deadlocked against one another, on either side of a room separated by a sea of glass shards, each like carnivorous sharks in the ocean having a feeding frenzy on the tension in the room.

“Fine.” Barry murmured defeatedly.

“So tell me. How is it possible my father saved Jaime last year and yet he’s allegedly been dead my whole life?” Bart lobbed the question over angrily to the traitors side of the room.

Barry’s anger transformed into sadness, “I’m sorry Bart. We both are. Why don’t you take a seat at the table?” Barry gestured towards the set table still anxiously awaiting the arrival of food.

Bart didn’t feel like sitting, he wanted to stand tall like the height of his anger at this new revelation. But he noticed Jaime was trembling and thought sitting down might help him feel better.

“Fine.” Bart said succinctly as he sat down with Jaime not daring to let go of his hand.

Barry and Iris had to carefully step through the shards of glass to avoid cutting their feet. Once they had sat down they begun.

“Bart. Your mother and father, they both opted to go to the future. Shortly after you were born, we were alerted to a prophecy that the world would end due to the Reach apocalypse. It was set to take place before you hit your 18th birthday. The Justice League asked for recruits to volunteer to go to the future and fight as part of a revolution. Don and Meloni both nominated to go to protect you, along with some other Leaguers. Even Dawn and her partner Jeven nominated to go. Booster Gold took all the volunteers to the future. And judging by the fact that the Reach invasion hasn’t happened yet, that means they’ve at least slowed the Reach down. I would have gone myself but I was too old. Your parents only went because they wanted to fight so that you could have a future. It truly broke their hearts leaving you, but they knew you were in good hands. Our hands. They made Iris and I promise to take good care of you. You know how protective us speedsters are. Nobody had any idea it would take this long.” Barry explained as buckets of tears poured down over his cheeks.

Bart had tears streaming down his face too, and was quick to ask the one question burning on his mind in a wobbly voice scared to hear the answer, “So my parents are alive?”

“Well, we don’t know. But from the sounds of it Don is.” Barry offered hopefully turning to Jaime.

“We didn’t know how you had come back to the past Jaime. Or that Don had even been the one to rescue you.” Barry reached out to hold Iris’ hand.

Jaime was speechless. Not only because this was just a mind-blowing secret to watch have wreak havoc on his boyfriend, but because he had heard the Reach soldiers coming into the Batcave just as he had escaped, meaning he could infer what had happened next to both Tim and Don. Jaime remained quiet on that front and decided to tell Bart as soon as they were alone. He at least owed Bart the truth.

“Did Don say anything about Meloni or Dawn or Jeven?” Barry asked, both him and his wife staring hopefully at Jaime. Jaime had never felt worse in his life having to inform them that he hadn’t heard a word. Don wouldn’t have even known who Jaime was going to bump into in the past, or to what year he was even being sent back to. Jaime didn’t know why they thought he’d have answers for them.

“Lo siento. No.” Jaime peeped quietly.

Bart looked so fragile which made hugging him feel like a dangerous endeavor, but Jaime could see it was as clear as day that Bart needed one. Bart cried heavily over Jaime’s shoulder. All Jaime could do was rub soothing, apologetic circles into Bart’s back. Jaime drowned in the guilt that his scarab was supposedly the one thing at the center of this entire Reach apocalypse that had been prophesied. Jaime was responsible for this entire mess. In that moment he made a decision. He was going to go back into the future and end this once and for all, and bring back Don, Meloni, Dawn, Jeven and all the other volunteers who were still hopefully alive. He wanted to leave right now, but Bart was devastated and needed him more than ever. Jaime decided to leave the next day. As much as he wanted to be there for Bart in his time of need, he knew time was of the essence. Every day Bart’s parents, aunt and uncle spent in the Reach infested future, the less likely Jaime would be able to bring them all back alive, that’s if they still were.

“We will give you two some privacy.” Iris spoke up finally, tugging on Barry’s arm to send the message.

Bart was still drenching the back of Jaime’s shirt with fresh tears.

“Bart. I’m here for you.” Jaime said softly as he continued rubbing Bart’s back.

Bart tried to stop crying so that he could speak. After a few blubbering attempts, he succeeded. “I can’t believe my parents might be alive.”

“I know. I’m shocked too.” Jaime sighed sadly. He couldn’t think of any advice to offer.

Suddenly Bart sobered up and a serious expression rained down onto his face, “I’m going to the future to help them.”

Jaime could have sworn a blood vessel burst in his chest hearing the words. “What! Bart, no! You can’t! You need to stay here where you’re safe! What if you go into the future and you die?” Jaime shrilled catching Bart off guard with the raw fear in his voice.

“But they need help! Or they are never going to be able to come back!” Bart countered, “They’ve almost been in the future for  _ two decades _ !”

Jaime knew Bart was protective as a speedster and that persuading him to stay in the past would be the most difficult thing he had ever done. “And don’t worry Bart. They will get help. That’s why I’m going back to the future.”

“Jaime.” Bart sterned angrily as he shot a look of rage at him for having made the idiotic suggestion. “You’re not going back to the future!”

“Yes I am. This is my mess. I need to clean it up. Besides, I  _ am _ from the future. I know how things work there. I even know the Reach headquarters inside and out.  _ I’m going Bart. _ ” Jaime stood up pulling away from Bart.

“I’m coming with you!” Bart stated in a tone showing it was not up for debate.

“No. You’re not.” Jaime said calmly as he began walking away.

Bart ran in front of him cutting him off, “Yes I am!” Bart yelled his fist clenched together by his sides.

“No you’re not!” Jaime snapped, before continuing to yell at the top of his lungs, “You’re not coming with me! I will not risk you getting killed by the Reach like my entire family! You’re the one person I have left Bart!” Jaime was shaking with anger. The tears in his eyes burned as if they were boiling water. His breathing was erratic as he blinked in a pattern that was not human.

Bart’s expression softened. He had never seen Jaime this angry or scared. Bart took a step towards him and gently placed a hand on either shoulder. Bart spoke softly, “Jaime. I know you’re scared of losing me, but I can take care of myself. I can help. It’s my parent’s  _ and _ my boyfriend’s lives on the line here, I’m not just going to sit back and do nothing. This is just as much my fight as is it yours.” Bart looked deeply into Jaime’s eyes and prayed he would allow him to go. Bart knew Jaime would be able to see just how important this was to him just by looking into his soulful eyes.

Jaime’s mouth twitched as he fell apart and started crying as he suddenly pulled Bart into a hug tight enough to break him, “I don’t want to lose you Bart. You’re all I have left.”

“You won’t lose me Jaime. I promise.” Bart hugged him back almost as tightly.

“Ok fine. But if anything happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself.” Jaime looked at Bart to see he understood just what he was implying. Bart swallowed thickly. The stakes had just been upped even more. But there was no way Bart was not going.

“Let’s do it.” Bart swallowed thickly, but this was happening, and that’s all he needed to know.


	18. Morals Torn Asunder

The pair excused themselves from dinner and headed back to the Premiere Building. Bart had ran Jaime over as they were both eager to get this trip to the future over and done with. Both of their lives were on hold until this was resolved. Bart placed Jaime down in the privacy of the foyer.

“What do we do now?” Bart asked Jaime, who noticed the magic was gone from his eyes.

“Well, we need to get Booster Gold to take us to the future. That’s the quickest way to get there. So we need to find out where he is.” Jaime immediately thought of a solution. He had later figured out how Bart had found him in El Paso, but Jaime knew that Bart was only given his coordinates as it was a plausible request. The Watchtower personnel would be much more suspicious of an Outsider requesting the coordinates of a Justice Leaguer. Especially this late at night when there were barely any missions in effect. Requesting coordinates was not a viable option Jaime decided. If anything, Michael was likely at home asleep. This left only one way to find out where Michael was.

“We need to go to the Watchtower.” Jaime instructed striding off towards the Zeta beams, Bart hot on his heels.

The pair walked out of the blue flash of light in the space station orbiting the moon.

“Follow me.” Jaime said quietly to Bart as the pair strode quickly in full costume hoping to appear as if they were on site for hero related purposes. Bart followed without a word, something which was suspicious within itself.

“Where are we going?“ Bart asked eventually when he gave up on trying to figure out the extent of Jaime’s plan.

“To the Watchtower’s centralized computer. It’s the only computer with access to all of the Justice Leaguer’s coordinates.” Jaime replied, abruptly putting a hand in front of Bart’s chest to stop him from walking around the next corner.

The pair peered around the corner of the wall standing between them, and the data they needed. They could see Watchtower personnel typing away at the computer under the supervision of a Leaguer on night duty. Tonight the supervising Justice Leaguer was Captain Atom.

“Khaji Da, can you hack the computer  _ without  _ tripping any security protocols?” Jaime inquired in his mind as his eyes shifted from side to side.

“Yes. All you need to do is connect me to the network. Give this USB to the Bart Allen and tell him to plug it into the computer.” Jaime granted Khaji Da’s request to control the armor and watched with amazement as his hand turned into a device that produced a USB, before conforming back into a hand. Clearly Bart was as stunned by the unknown extent of Khaji Da’s abilities as Jaime was. Jaime gently extended his hand to Bart’s and placed the USB in his awaiting palm and whispered, “Plug this in to the computer and don’t get caught.”

“Oh please, I’m way too fast.” Bart grinned as he snatched the USB and returned to Jaime’s side astonishingly quickly.

“Who knew my boyfriend was such a bad-ass?” Bart leered. Jaime rolled his eyes as this really wasn’t the time. Sure they were both breaching countless rules which would guarantee immediate suspension for their actions, but they needed to do this. For them. For Bart’s family. For the world. And besides, Jaime was taking every precautionary measure to ensure they didn’t get caught.

“My scans reveal the Bart Allen is aroused, recommended tactic-” Khaji Da began.

“Scarab! Just hack the network!” Jaime hissed in his mind. Jaime heard the beep notifying him to the acquisition of the data. “Let’s go.” Jaime whispered seriously as he slinked away.

The pair strode back quickly to the zeta beam portals, freezing still when they both heard their names. The pair swiveled around feeling sick to their stomachs.

“Hey M’Gann!” Bart exclaimed on behalf of the pair.

“What are you guys up to?” She asked cheerily, accompanied by a friendly smile.

“We’re both going home! We just came here to…” Bart paused looking desperately at Jaime for help. Jaime was at a loss for words. Khaji Da suggested Jaime say that they had just returned from a mission, but Jaime knew that would likely not fly as proper justification. Jaime was taking too long to think of something so Bart jumped in.

“To… admire the romantic view.” Bart finished before grabbing Jaime’s hand, “We are… we’re dating now.” Bart revealed as he sheepishly smiled at Jaime. He figured it was as good as explanation as any as to why they both looked like they were hiding something, because they were.

“Oh wow! That’s awesome! I’m so happy for you two!” M’Gann smiled genuinely, buying the excuse. The view from the watchtower was very breathtaking.

“But can you please keep this between us.” Jaime begged with an urgency to his tone, hoping it would distract M’Gann from the fact that he had been suspiciously silent up until this point.

“Yeh, of course!” She assured. “Well, I had a feeling this would happen.” The martian chuckled thinking back on multiple memories that demonstrated Bart’s obvious attraction to Jaime.

“Yeh…” Bart teetered nervously, “Well we should get going. We’ll see you around!” Bart said cheerily as the pair turned and waved before walking into the zeta platform hand in hand.

“That was a close one!” Bart emphasized with wide eyes when they had teleported back to the Premiere Building. 

“Yeh.” Jaime replied succinctly. Bart’s face fell a little. Something was off, but now wasn’t the time. 

Michael was at home according to his coordinates, which was only about a thirty minute car ride away from the Premiere Building, or a less than one second run with Bart.

“I’m sending you the coordinates Bart, can you run us there?” Jaime asked unncessarily.

“Of course!” Bart stayed true to his usual cheery self. It was difficult, but he was determined not to fall victim to the negativity prowling the atmosphere. Bart felt like an idiot for not truly connecting the dots consciously until now. Jaime was off because going back to the future was obviously going to be very traumatic for him and he knew it. Bart of course knew this, but he hadn’t really thought about it consciously. The speedster flipped through the thoughts in his mind, like the turning of pages of a book, as he ran carrying Jaime. Jaime was likely going to experience a lot of unpleasant feelings when he returned to the past, given all the memories that would come flooding back. Not to mention having the weight of the world on his shoulders. Jaime would constantly be worried for Bart’s safety at the same time as trying to figure out how to take down the Reach. Something that the resistance in the future hadn’t achieved across nearly two decades of trying. And then there were the volunteers they had to rescue as well. There was a lot of pressure on Jaime. Bart was worried his boyfriend might crack under it all.

“Here we are.” Bart said seriously. It almost caught Jaime off guard hearing the tone. The truth was Bart was feeling rather sad and overwhelmed after dwelling on the task ahead of them.

Bart took a step to knock on the door, when he found himself suddenly pulled back by his wrist.

“Bart wait! We need the suit, not Michael.” Jaime whispered.

“But Michael’s the only one who knows how to use it.” Bart whispered back.

“Khaji Da tells me it can scan the suit and figure out how to operate it. And what happens if we ask Michael to take us to the future and he says no? He’s going to know it was  _ us _ who took the suit!” Jaime explained. Truthfully, the credit for thinking that far ahead belonged to Khaji Da who had pointed it out to Jaime moment’s earlier, having predicted their chances of success based on prior interactions with Michael that were indicative of his stance on the matter of time travel.

“Okay, so I’ll quickly borrow it then.” Bart flickered for a moment before Jaime could respond, “He’s still awake and he’s wearing the suit!” Bart hissed quietly with irritation knowing this would throw a spanner in the works.

“Well I don’t know, let’s just wait till he falls asleep then.” Jaime suggested, choosing to ignore the suggestions Khaji Da offered up including knockout gas and other methods Jaime disapproved of. Michael was still a superhero, he didn’t deserve to be taken down like a villain.

“Okay sure. Where should we wait?” Bart asked as he gestured at the porch the two were still standing on. Neither of them were enjoying whispering and wanted to talk normally again.

“Right. I don’t know.” Jaime looked around and spotted a large oak tree across the street. Jaime wrapped his arm around Bart and flew the pair up into the thick branches like a bird. Jaime lowered the pair in a flat part of the trunk where they could sit and wait. Jaime asked Khaji Da to scan every minute and alert him to Michael’s status.

Jaime was distracted from his mind when he felt a hand wrap carefully around his wrist, “Jaime?” Bart questioned softly.

“Yeh?” Jaime questioned back as he focused on his boyfriend.

“Are we alright?” Bart removed his hand and wrapped it around himself as he shivered from the cold breeze. Jaime tripped and fell face forward into a puddle of despair at hearing the question.

“Of course mi amor.” Jaime’s eyes desperately seeked out his boyfriends before continuing, “I’m sorry that I haven’t been myself. I’m just… scared. There’s a lot riding on this. And I feel like this is all my fault.” Jaime shook his head as he looked down, feeling as sturdy as the tree in his belief.

“Jaime. This isn’t your fault!” Bart unexpectedly fell apart and started crying. He didn’t think Jaime would ever believe him.

Jaime ushered Bart into his arms and hugged him, “Shh… It’s okay Bart. Please don’t cry. I can’t stand it when you cry!” Jaime begged squeezing the speedster tightly to let him know everything would be okay.

“Well stop blaming yourself!” Bart pleaded as he looked up at his boyfriend through tear stained windows. He hoped that somehow, this time would be different. And that Jaime would listen.

“I’ll try. I promise I’ll try.” Jaime kissed Bart on the head and pulled him close, “I’m sorry Bart. I’m trying to be strong for you. But I am scared of going back to the future.” Jaime admitted.

“That’s okay. I am too.” Bart admitted, feeling good about the honesty they were sharing.

Bart shivered again as a new wave of wind washed over his spandex uniform.

“Come here.” Jaime rotated Bart and placed him in between his legs. Jaime wrapped himself around Bart as much as possible to shield him from the wind. Bart knew it was as simple as vibrating his molecules to keep warm, but he decided to enjoy Jaime’s embrace instead.

“So…” Jaime broke the silence after a few minutes, “I hear you have a thing for bad boys?” Jaime smirked.

Bart let out a light chuckle at Jaime’s attempt to be the entertainer of the relationship putting his boyfriend at ease, when that was primarily his role. The laugh, despite being light, was still music to Jaime’s ears. Bart responded by snuggling deeper into Jaime’s arms. The pair sat in silence and smiled softly at one another as the leaves around them glided in the breeze.


	19. Making Quiet Noises

“Jaime Reyes. The Michael Carter is moving. He is walking from his living room to his bedroom.” Khaji Da announced, startling Jaime who had slowly been drifting into sleep. When he looked down he saw Bart had actually fallen asleep. He hated to wake Bart up, but Bart was crucial to the plan. Jaime gently shook his partner until he woke up.

“What? What’s going on?” Bart asked groggily, his fringe completely blocking his vision as it had fallen into a curtain over his eyes. Jaime brushed Bart’s hair aside so he could see properly.

“Mi amor. You’re up.” Jaime helped the speedster wake up so that he could fulfill his part of the plan.

“Wish me luck!” Bart winked, before running down the trunk of the tree and phasing through the front door. Jaime was beginning to panic as Bart hadn’t returned yet and it had been a few seconds. Jaime flew down from the tree and landed on the grass. He was about to go investigate when Bart suddenly returned.

“What took so long?” Jaime inquired nervously hoping not to sound impatient.

“Skeets. Long story. Anyway, I got the suit.” Bart lifted the limp, gold and navy suit draped over both of his arms.

Khaji Da began scanning the suit, “Good news Jaime Reyes. I can replicate the suit’s technology into my own, similarly to the A.M.A.Z.O. android.” Khaji Da informed proudly.

“What?” Jaime spluttered at the thought of having the ability to time travel as if it were a pack of gum tucked away in his pocket that he could leisurely access whenever he wanted.

“What is it?” Bart asked in confusion as he began to worry that their plan had gone awry.

“Khaji Da can apparently replicate the suit’s technologies. You can put the suit back. Michael will never know.” Jaime informed watching as Bart gasped in a similar shocked reaction to himself.

“I’ll put the suit back, but Jaime, I swear to god, you better be here when I get back.” Bart warned as he stared at Jaime dead in the eyes. Jaime felt something tighten in his chest at the stare. Bart’s stare spoke volumes, so that the speedster didn’t have to. Jaime knew if he were to leave without Bart, his boyfriend would never forgive him. That would likely be the end of their relationship. But he loved Bart with everything he had and wanted to keep him safe. Jaime began wondering. Could I live in a world where Bart was safe but he hates me? Bart ran back inside the house to return the suit.

Jaime began pacing as he pondered the decision. It was tempting. It was really tempting. He loved Bart more than anything and he wanted him to be safe. But ultimately, Jaime couldn’t live in a world where Bart hated him. Jaime had given Bart his word that they could go together, so he chose to stick to his word. After a few moments, Bart returned and was incomprehensibly relieved to see Jaime waiting for him. He admittedly had been slightly worried that his boyfriend might have left him behind to ensure his safety.

“Thanks.” Bart smiled knowingly. Jaime understood and nodded.

“I guess this is it.” Jaime blinked a few times at his partner as the pair stood beneath the tree under the cloak of darkness. Jaime was about to feel something a lot darker the instant he took a step back into the future.

“Wait. Bart.” Jaime placed his hands on Bart’s shoulders gently to hold him down from floating away, “Are you sure you want to come with me?”

“I’m sure Jaime.” Bart said softly with a slight smile angle on the right side of his lips.

“Okay.” Jaime smiled back. The smile disappeared quickly, “There’s one more thing I need to tell you… about Don.” Jaime’s guilt shone through his tone, so even though Bart couldn’t make out his facial expression in the Latino’s silhouette, he could still see it.

“What?” Bart resisted the urge to take one step back unsure of whether he could take whatever news was about to come.

“The last time I saw Don. He was in the Batcave and Reach soldiers were about to invade the cave.” Jaime looked down as he imagined Bart was on him, “I’m sorry Bart.”

Bart shook his head in denial, “It’s okay. Allen’s are tough! I’m sure he’s fine!” Bart’s voice cracked a little trying to remain confident. 

“I hope so mi amor. I hope so.” Jaime cupped Bart’s jaw with one hand, holding the most precious person to him in the world, one last time. Jaime was surprised when Bart threw his arms around him and hugged him. Jaime was quick to hug his younger partner back. The two stood entrenched in the hug for minutes as the breeze caused the leaves to quietly sing in the wind around them. 

“Give me one second.” Bart stated holding a finger up, before returning instantly, “I’ve got us some supplies. Some food, water and medical supplies. This should last us about a week?”

Jaime nodded, “Are you ready?” Jaime asked one last time. Bart confirmed with a simple nod.

“Khaji Da?” Jaime prompted.

“I can configure the settings to the last place you were in the future, the Batcave.” Khaji Da explained before requesting permission for the armor to initiate the sequence. Jaime nodded.

Jaime held on to Bart tightly. There was no way he was letting Bart fall out of his arms when Khaji Da was about to experiment with time travel for the first time.

“Relax Jaime Reyes. I know what I am doing.” The scarab insisted. This did not however ease Jaime’s nerves. Bart’s grip on Jaime tightened as the pair suddenly felt a shift in the atoms around them. A turquoise bubble began to formulate around them as Khaji Da began initiating proceedings. It crackled and hissed like the flames of a campfire as waves of electricity darted around the bubble’s outer surface in ways energy should not behave. The sound only grew louder until suddenly all was quiet and the bubble died.

Bart and Jaime stood in the ruins of a Batcave. They both looked around with sorrow. Though it wasn’t a living creature, the damage sustained by the cave had looked painful. There were craters in the jagged walls, caused by explosions so powerful it brought to mind a hot spoon carving effortlessly through frozen ice cream. Panels of hardware hung from the ceiling by tired, frayed cords. Some of the surviving lights flickered every handful of seconds, begging to be put out of their misery of having to see the cave themselves. The floor was laced with a settled layer of fine dust and rubble. There were no bodies. Jaime knew that the Reach would have cleaned up after themselves.

Jaime took a moment to look over at his courageous boyfriend to see how he was coping. He looked sick to his stomach, and about everywhere else too.

“What should we do now?” Bart asked cluelessly as he noticed he was being stared at.

“I don’t know. Khaji Da, any suggestions?” Jaime asked.

“I would recommend you find a way to contact the resistance. Find your allies and plan an attack.” Khaji Da offered the strategy, to which Jaime shared it with Bart. They both agreed. Jaime knew that there were multiple hideouts the resistance had. Many actually. The Reach were constantly trying to smoke them out, but they were rarely successful. The closest Jaime ever came to smiling whilst on mode was hearing about the updates regarding the resistance’s successes.

“Maybe the Batcomputer still works?” Bart offered as he ran over to it, examining it thoroughly.

Jaime checked with Khaji Da whether contacting the resistance through the Batcomputer was a viable option. Jaime also asked whether the message would be sent over a secure frequency. The last thing they needed was to send a message that could be intercepted by the Reach. Jaime was taking every precaution to ensure Bart and his locations remained unearthed.

“Here goes nothing…” Jaime felt queasy as he touched the panel and allowed Khaji Da to hack the Batcomputer’s security features. It took a few minutes but Khaji Da was able to hack Tim’s authorization protocols and send out a singular ping. A single byte of data. Bart and Jaime held their breath as they awaited a response. Anything. They were worried the computer may have sustained too much damage to be able to send the ping, let alone receive one; but Khaji Da insisted the chances were in their favor.

X

“Don!” Tim’s shout echoed throughout the cave immediately flaring the fight or response in all the civilians present in the cave. Tim received a few resentful glares.

“What’s up?” A cheery (as much as a man in his circumstances could possibly be) Don queried.

“I’m not sure. Something weird. I just received a ping from one of our old Batcaves? This one was destroyed by the Reach ages ago? Could you go and investigate?” Tim asked nervously. He didn’t reveal it to Don, but Tim’s records indicated that the Batcave sending the ping was the one they had sent Jaime back to the past in. Tim didn’t believe in coincidences. If Jaime was indeed back, that would put them all in grave danger. The only reason he wasn’t investigating himself was because he couldn’t run at the speed of light. And he would have gotten Don to carry him but he was currently on monitor duty. He had the lives of innocent civilians in his hands, he couldn’t abandon them. Not when they weren’t in a safe zone yet.

“Sure. I’ll be back in a Flash!” Don saluted as he disappeared leaving behind a knee height cloud of grey dust.

Tim knew after one second of Don having not returned that his greatest fear was true.


	20. The Reunion

“Maybe they didn’t get it?” Bart said, allowing a hopeless tone to leak from his mouth.

Jaime immediately grabbed Bart and stood in front of him protectively, having received the beginning of an alert from Khaji Da regarding someone entering the cave before the alert was no longer necessary, because that very someone, had arrived so quickly. Jaime transformed his arm into a sonic cannon immediately aiming it at the black silhouette of a man surrounded by exercised dust.

“Don’t move!” Jaime shouted out to the unknown intruder as Khaji Da began scanning away.

Jaime got the shock of his life when Khaji Da retracted the armor. Just as Jaime was about to frantically beg for an explanation as to why Khaji Da was allowing both of them to be completely vulnerable to the unknown threat, Jaime had a much more pressing question come to mind when he heard what came next.

“Bart?” The word tumbled from Don’s mouth in disbelief. It was one word, and yet it had to have been the most emotionally charged one ever said in history.

Don took a few steps out into the light. Jaime gasped seeing his savior again. He was certain Don and Tim would have perished that fateful day they had sent him back in time. His breathing slowed as his knees almost buckled with relief. Don was alive!

“Dad?” Bart questioned back, taking a step out from behind Jaime.

Jaime was nearly knocked over as Don brushed past him to wrap his son in a hug. A hug that filled both of their hearts to the brim with unbridled joy. Both speedsters were crying happy tears instantly. Jaime could definitely see the resemblance when they were standing side by side. It was clear as day, these two were definitely father and son. Don and Bart shared the same deep and meaningful green eyes. Don may have had sandy beach, blonde hair, but his facial structure had been passed down to Bart too. And the smile, it was an exact replica. 

“My son. I- I can’t believe it. You’re here.” Don didn’t dare pull out of the embrace as he spoke. He kept his hand on the back of Bart’s head pulling it to his chest, so that there wasn’t any space between them.

Jaime got goosebumps watching the reunion and even began tearing up himself.

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe Bart.” Don cooed sadly as he brushed his son’s wavy, brunette locks.

“But Dad. Jaime and I came here to help!” Bart informed happily as he pulled away to make eye contact with his father.

Don wanted to get angry, this is why he had made his sacrifice; so that Bart’s life expectancy (along with all of mankind) was not to be squelched by the Reach. But, he was so overwhelmed with joy to see his son for the first time in nearly two decades. He couldn’t possibly be mad. He looked at his son, and just admired him. He had grown so much, become his own man. It made him proud. He wanted to get to know his son, immediately. He had too many questions to get out at once it physically hurt. It felt like trying to fit all the water in the ocean through a funnel in a second. 

“How did you get here?” Don asked still staring in awe at his grown up son.

“That’s not important.” Bart dismissed. His eyes went wide with sensitivity, “Dad, is mom… still alive?” Bart had never felt more vulnerable in his entire life, and his eyes showed it.

“Yes Bart. Yes. She’s okay.” Don soothed as he pulled Bart into another hug. He felt fresh tears run down his son’s cheeks and on to his arms. They were warm to match the feelings within their hearts.

“Where is she?” Bart asked looking up at his father’s soothing emerald eyes.

“She’s safe. She’s located far away from here. Safe from the Reach. She’s helping take care of the civilians we’ve rescued. I run them to our shelter when it’s safe and she takes care of them along with your aunt Dawn and her partner Jeven.” Don explained.

Don’s eyes lit up. He had been so busy being selfish and basking in his son’s return, he hadn’t even thought about his wife. “Bart hold on a second, I’m coming right back I promise. I’m going to get your mom.” Don smiled. Even he was surprised. He hadn’t smiled properly in years.

Bart swallowed nervously in anticipation and tossed a quick glance at Jaime. Jaime smiled back supportively and Bart was able to smile back. His expression was a tired version of happiness. Bart had just maximised his happiness levels. Having discovered his father was still alive, happy and healthy, had been a strenuous (the good kind) activity for his heart strings. And now he was about to meet his mother. He didn’t know how much overwhelming joy his heart could take.

Don returned moments later with Meloni. She already had tears in her eyes, which meant Don had already informed her of the incredible news. Without warning, Bart had tucked his mother into the loving embrace of his muscled arms.

“Bart.” Meloni sobbed repetitively as her hands gripped desperately around her son’s back. She was smaller than him, a complete reversal of the last time she had seen him; which had been when Bart was a baby cradled in her arms. She routinely pulled away every few seconds to try and observe every inch of her son, in pure shock seeing how much he had grown.

“Mom.” Bart said warmly, as he hugged her back and rested his head on hers, hoping that his chin wasn’t digging into her scalp. He also hoped his tears dripping down onto her head weren’t bothering her. She could feel the tears being absorbed into her light brown hair, the exact same shade Bart sported. Now Jaime knew where he got his hair color from. Most of Bart’s features did come from Don, but the hair traits were definitely from Meloni.

“I love you so much Bart.” Meloni apologized into her son’s chest. She had never quite forgiven herself for leaving Bart behind despite her altruistic intentions. Neither had Don. And hearing his wife say the words had prompted him to do the same, before making it a group hug.

“I love you Mom! And I love you too Dad!” Bart exclaimed as he smiled a smile which Jaime ranked as the most beautiful smile he had ever seen on the speedster’s face. And there were some tough contester’s in the top 10. But this one won by a landslide. Nothing could have ruined this moment for him. Not the fact that they were standing in a wasteland of destruction, not the fact that they were stuck in a dystopian future where freedom was dead; and not the fact that they had a mission to do before any of them could return safely home. They were superheroes and they had a job to do. As much as they all wanted to return home safely while they still could, this mission was far from over.

“Bart, we’re really sorry about leaving you in the past. Your mother and I wanted to protect you.” Don apologized with a heavy heart on behalf of himself and Meloni.

“It’s okay dad. I forgive you. Both of you.” Bart smiled as he hugged them tighter.

“I can’t believe how much you’ve grown.” Meloni raised a shaky hand over her mouth as she laughed after eventually pulling out of the group hug. She did however leave her other hand on Bart’s shoulder as she wasn’t ready to let go of him entirely.

Bart chuckled, “Yeh.” Bart peeped quietly. He didn’t really know what to say. He didn’t feel like he knew his parents at all. The emotion on his face registered with both Don and Meloni.

“We want to hear all about you and what you’ve been up to, but first we should go somewhere safer.” Don’s expression became more serious as he re-organised his priorities. A beam ran across his face as his next question followed, “Bart. Are you up for a run?” Don raised an eyebrow enticingly hoping his son would agree.

“That would be so crash! Yes!” Bart’s eyes lit up with a blinding gleam. He was about to run with his father for the first time ever. For a speedster, that was a big deal. It was a bonding experience to run with family.

Don picked up Meloni again and Bart immediately scooped up Jaime. Bart watched as Don and Meloni’s expressions flickered with the realization that Jaime was actually still in the room. Jaime had melted away and become a mere speck worlds away when they had seen their son again.

Don beamed proudly as he began running, only to see his son keeping pace effortlessly, right by his side. Bart’s smile was bigger than Don’s though. This run was special, deeply special to Bart.

Moments later the four were in a very simple house on a farm, used to grow crops for the large settlement residing in the hills behind it. The community pulled together in a new found peace, where the Reach were no longer destroying lives.

“Take a seat!” Meloni gestured with a hand, at the dining room table.

“Meloni! You should have seen him! The boy’s a natural!” Don exclaimed proudly lightly shaking his wife back and forth by her shoulders wearing the biggest grin. Don’s grin was mirrored on Meloni’s face. Whilst she couldn’t directly relate to the whole speedster thing, she was still proud.

Bart chuckled and beamed over at his father for the compliment. Jaime was smiling too as he conservatively took a seat at the table. Jaime felt awkward as Don and Meloni practically ignored him in favor of placing all their attention on Bart. He completely understood the impulse though. He didn’t begrudge them one bit for focusing entirely on Bart, having not seen him his whole life up until now. But Jaime still felt very odd sitting at the table given that Bart hadn’t pointed out his significance yet. Jaime was nervous to hear how they would react. That’s if Bart even told them. But they were bound to question his persistent presence eventually.

“So Bart. Tell us about… well you!” Don chuckled as Meloni nodded eagerly.

Bart bit his lip as he tried to think of everything noteworthy to tell them. He suddenly felt very dizzy. Don and Meloni could see how overwhelmed he was and decided to ask him bite size questions.

Don broke the silence first, “So. I’m assuming you’re a superhero judging by that cool costume!”

“Yeh!” Bart chuckled, “I’m on a team. We’re called the Outsiders.”

“I like it!” Don cut in enthusiastically. His eyes lit up in a manner so freakishly similar to Bart's that Jaime had to blink a few times to remember he was looking at Don and not Bart, “Do you have a superhero name?”

“Impulse.” Bart said proudly as he placed his hands on his hips and grinned.

“Honey do you hear that!” Don beamed at his wife causing her to chuckle, his childlike enthusiasm (which was clearly genetic in the Allen's, per Jaime’s observation) was very endearing. “Impulse…” Don sounded out dramatically, like the narrator of a movie trailer. “It’s catchy! Dramatic! One word. It’s perfect!”

“That’s what I said!” Bart exclaimed in a flurry of joy and bewilderment. Meloni was scared she and her smile might melt like butter. Watching her son and husband interact and get along so well was too much adorableness for her heart to handle.

“And what about a girlfriend?” Don grinned as he cockily brought a hand down on Bart’s shoulder and squeezed it.

“Don! You can’t just make assumptions like that!” Meloni snapped at her husband. She looked back at Bart through apologetic eyes. Bart could tell she knew deep down, just by the way she was looking at him. A mother always knows. Bart’s stomach twisted like a sponge being wrung out. Jaime also fizzled in a gross feeling, the kind you get when sticking your hand into a sink filled with filthy water.

“Or boyfriend?” Don offered just as happily without hesitation. His smile and curious, awaiting eyes, didn’t even falter for a microsecond. Bart suddenly felt a lot more relieved.

Bart’s confidence disappeared behind the new shy version of himself, as he looked down at his hands protecting his knee caps for a moment.

“Come on! There’s got to be  _ someone _ special in your life! I mean look at you! You have the Allen family good looks!” Don grinned as he framed Bart with his hands.

“There is.” Bart smiled shyly casting a quick glance at Jaime to see how he was reacting to the conversation. He looked rather vacuous, not that Bart could blame him. Bart was barely sure of how to react in this situation himself, let alone poor Jaime.

“And…” Don encouraged hopefully, leaning in closer.

“I have a boyfriend.” Bart peeped out nervously unsure of how both of his parents would react.

“That’s my boy!” Don crowed proudly as he scattered Bart’s shoulder with playful punches. Meloni smiled back sweetly before rolling her eyes at her husband's antics. Bart’s eyes widened with surprise. He couldn’t believe how accepting his parents were of finding out that he was dating a guy. His nerves were still growing by the minute as he anticipated further questions.

“What’s his name?” Meloni asked, placing a supporting hand on Bart’s forearm, smiling in only the way a mother could. Don was trying not to explode with excitement as he awaited a name.

Bart chuckled timidly before reeling in all his nerves to remain completely still and hold his breath, “Jaime.” 

“Wait a second.” Don’s smile flew south for the winter. The man swiveled to face Jaime sitting beside Bart and pointed, “This Jaime?” His voice was much more serious now causing both Bart and Jaime to swallow nervously.

Bart nodded slowly as time stood still.


	21. Uncertain Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so Part B is officially 11 chapters because I make the rules around here. Don't question it lol. Just go with the flow. Technically this chapter is a slither of Part C. The rest will come whenever I eventually deem it ready lol. So enjoy the new content!

“Dad! Please don’t be mad!” Bart begged before stopping due to Don holding a silencing finger up.

“I have three questions.” Don said succinctly. The stern tone in his voice was strong enough to hammer a nail into a block of wood. Meloni resisted the urge to get involved and decided to sit still and share in the concerned looks upon both Bart and Jaime’s faces.

“Question 1. Does he make you happy?” Don said glaring at Jaime, as if he had x-ray supervision like Superman, and could see through any untruthful responses he provided.

Jaime swallowed and spoke his first words to the man since coming back to the future, “Yes sir. Very much so.”

“I wasn’t talking to you.” Don spoke flatly whilst still staring down the Latino, as if about to enter into a ten paces competition with him. Jaime was beginning to sweat. The stare was causing his body to overheat with nerves, and Khaji Da’s suggestions weren’t exactly helping.

Bart spluttered as he scrambled to words upon realizing Don was referencing him, “He means the world to me! Nobody makes me happier than he does!” Bart pleaded with his father who only spared him the eye contact he craved momentarily before staring back at Jaime.

“Question 2. What do you like about our son?” Jaime knew this time the question was meant for him. The first one was clearly to throw him off his game. But when it came to his love for Bart, he couldn’t be shaken. Jaime straightened his back becoming much more confident causing Meloni, and even Don, to lean back ever slightly in surprise.

“Everything. He’s sweet, caring, funny, smart, handsome.” Jaime smiled as he daydreamed about the speedster, whilst maintaining an assertive stare with Don as he continued listing the attributes. Only now did he pause and turn to face Bart with a grin, “And he’s annoyingly charming.” The pair shared in a slight chuckle that made Meloni want to swoon. “He never gives up on anyone. He never gave up on me. Not once. And I love him for it.” Jaime returned his strong-willed gaze back to Don to notice a shift in his expression, an unreadable one.

“Last question. Why do you think you’re good enough for my son?” Don folded his arms as he wore a scrutinizing expression on his face.

“I’d do anything for him. Literally anything.” Jaime said the words firmly. He meant every word.

Don pursed his lips in thought and recalled the moment he had shown up in the cave and Jaime had instantly jumped in front of Bart to protect him. And Don was well aware Jaime had the means to protect Bart, with the scarab’s extensive abilities and on hand arsenal.

“Hmm… Alright Jaime. You have my approval.” A big smile now worked its way onto the man’s previously somber face. “You seem like a good kid.”

Bart let out a breath he hadn’t even been aware that he had been holding. He reached over and interlaced his fingers with Jaime’s and held his hand. Don and Meloni could see just by looking at the way they looked at each other, it was true love. It was the same soft gaze they shared themselves.

“I’m sorry to have been so stern with you Jaime. I had to make sure you were good enough for my son.” Don explained with a friendly wink at Bart, hoping his son understood he was only interrogating Jaime harshly because he was looking out for him.

“I understand.” Jaime smiled back to show that there were no hard feelings. He understood completely. Bart was Don’s only child. Of course he would want to look out for him. And Jaime couldn’t really get mad with Don since he had given him his life back in the first place.

“Well… My son’s a superhero. He’s found love.” Don glanced over at Meloni, “Sounds like he’s done very well for himself.”

“We’re both very proud of you Bart.” Meloni started tearing up again.

“Thanks mom.” Bart said softly as he rubbed her shoulder in the hopes she wouldn’t cry.

Jaime hadn’t wanted to interrupt the moment but he needed to thank Don again. Looking over at Bart, it just reminded him of how lucky he was. He had it all. And it was thanks to this wonderful man, “Umm… Don. I just wanted to thank you for saving me from the Reach. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t have Bart. Now I have a life worth living, and it’s all thanks to you.” Jaime tried to decide whether to go for a handshake or a hug.

“You’re welcome Jaime.” Don smiled warmly and noted that Jaime was scared of overstepping and chose to play it safe by remaining still after having wriggled around in his chair for a moment trying to decide. Don was about to get up and give Jaime a hug when his son bet him to it.

Bart hugged Jaime over the back of his chair. Bart draped his arms over Jaime’s shoulders possessively, and rested his cheek right beside Jaime’s. He smiled a smile that Jaime couldn’t see, but one that reflected how grateful he was to have Jaime in his life, “Thanks Dad. For saving Jaime. I can’t imagine my life without him.”

Only a true monster’s heart would not have been warmed at the sight. Bart hummed quietly as he held Jaime in his arms. Jaime reached up as best as he could and held Bart in his own arms. Bart couldn’t help it, using his super speed he quickly placed a kiss on Jaime’s cheek.

“I saw that!” Don smirked as he leaned back in his chair, causing it to stand on two legs.

“Dad!” Bart whined with embarrassment. At least his mother hadn’t seen it. Although she was able to see the blush billowing across his cheeks which was spelling out what had happened.

“It’s fine!” Don chuckled, “I’m just teasing.”

Meloni smirked as she decided to get in on the embarrassing parent action, “Did I miss a passionate kiss or something?”

“Mom!” Bart gawked in disbelief that they were ganging up on him. Not to mention that his cheeks were getting so red that it was becoming contagious. Jaime’s cheeks were beginning to redden now too.

“Mom. Dad. Could you turn around for a second? Please!” Bart shot them both serious but pleading glares.

Don and Meloni shared a knowing grin and both complied. The instant their backs were all Bart could see, he cupped Jaime’s jaw tilting his head upwards allowing easy access for a kiss. The angle provided for a pleasantly surprising opportunity to make it a deep kiss. And Bart just had to go for it. He had just found out that his parents were alive. They were proud of him. They loved and accepted him for who he was. This had been the greatest gift he had ever been given, and he had gotten to share it with Jaime. Jaime, who he loved more than anyone or anything. His heart was brimming with the kind of love, that was too powerful to be conveyed by human words alone.

Their lips parted with a slight smack when they both knew they had to cut it off before it became the kind of kiss that required privacy. And both Don and Meloni were still in the room, so they had to behave themselves.

“Can we turn around now?” Don leered upon hearing their lips part.

“Yes.” A flustered Bart answered whilst trying to sound like his head wasn’t spinning as he lifted his head up again, despite it feeling heavy with deliriousness.

“You know we’re going to see you two kiss one day, right?” Don taunted happily.

Bart face-palmed before groaning into the underside of his arm. Jaime couldn’t make eye contact with either of Bart’s parents and looked down at his fascinating shoes. Bart thought about taking on the challenge that was never allowing his father to ever catch him kissing Jaime on the lips, but ultimately, given how often Bart felt compelled to prove his love to Jaime, Bart knew he would fail. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try though.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, how are Barry and Iris?” Don asked hoping his parents were both doing well. He thought about them the most, after Bart and Meloni of course.

“They’re good. They don’t know that Jaime and I are here in the future right now.” Bart said guiltily as he slightly withdrew his head behind Jaime’s in the fear a lecture was about to take place.

“Bart.” Don said sternly, “You should have told them. They are probably sick with worry!”

“I know, I’m sorry Dad! I just… I just knew they wouldn’t let us come to help you if they knew about it.” Bart justified, “And once I found out you two were still alive, I just had to come here and help. I want to bring you home.” Bart’s tone was treacly sentimental.

“You really shouldn’t have son. But thank you.” Don exhaled not liking the fact his son had willingly put his own life in danger, but he knew that as a speedster, Bart would be just as stubborn about protecting his loved ones as all the Allen's that had come before him.

“I tried to talk him out of it.” Jaime offered, hoping it would appease Don’s no doubt underlying frustration towards him for bringing his son back to the perilous future with him, “But I wasn’t willing to risk living in a world where Bart hates me.”

“Well we’ve been here long enough, I think it’s time we finished what we started. Don’t you Meloni?” Don looked over determinately at the shortest one in the room.

“I do.” Meloni grinned confidently back.

“Now that we have Jaime and Bart, I think we can take down the Reach once and for all.” Don shared nods with everyone in the room following his short motivational speech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where it ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper. There is more. Anddd I have written it. I'm just not happy with the handfuls of chapters that follow this one. So I guess I'm going to try and find the motivation to work on them at some point? Idk. Sorry? I'm a terrible person I know lol. What a cruel cliffhanger! But yeah I really hope you can still leave a positive comment for me below! More or less focused on the positives of all previous chapters!


End file.
